


Echoes Beyond the Past

by CustardAlvis



Series: Tokyo Afterschool Summoners x Zero Escape [3]
Category: Zero Escape (Video Games), 東京放課後サモナーズ | Tokyo Afterschool Summoners | Housamo
Genre: F/M, M/M, quantum metaphysics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-09-30 02:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 60,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17214935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CustardAlvis/pseuds/CustardAlvis
Summary: A sequel to Tokyo Afterschool Nonary Games.Eko wakes up with no memories of who she is, of who she was. Questions surround her as she heads forward into the "Nonary Game" alongside 8 people who know her- but she has no recollection of. But then, the first step to finding an answer is to have all the questions, right?





	1. Patience

**Author's Note:**

> This is a direct sequel and will likely make very little sense if you haven't read the original fic nor the Christmas fic I wrote (These can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16134539/ and https://archiveofourown.org/works/16757554 respectively).  
> Enjoy!

_Darkness. Nothing but a sea of darkness._

_Where am I? I can’t feel anything…_

_Was I… asleep?_

_I don’t understand…_

_It’s… too much…_

_But… what is... “it?”_

_...Why do I feel… so…_

_...Why… do I…_

_...feel…?_

//

“Eko!? Eko, are you alright? Oh jeez… please be ok...”

_...Huh?_

The girl laying on the floor came to, propping herself up with her elbow as she opened her eyes. She focused on a round boy with red hair, looking directly at her. He smiled and held out his hand to her. She looked vacantly at it, then back up at his face.

“Eko, I’m so glad you’re safe!”

She looked around at her surroundings. From the looks of it, they were trapped together in some sort of large mechanical room. Lines of dials and knobs ran along one of the walls, and other devices were interspersed throughout the rest of the room. Despite all this, it was silent. Not to mention devoid of any other life. The boy was still holding out his hand to her, though he looked a little worried now.

“Eko?”

She stared blankly at the boy. “Who?”

“Eh?” He pulled his hand away and squatted down in front of her, looking deep into her eyes. “You? Er… you wouldn’t happen to be her… sister or something, would you? Nah, there’s no way. You have the same red flower in your hair and everything.” The boy frowned and stood back up, fiddling with something on his finger. It looked like a simple ring, though there were two yellow lines running around it. Looking down at her own hand, she saw an identical ring. She fiddled with it too, though it didn’t want to come off.

_Where am I?_

She stood up, abandoning her inspection on the ring. The longer she thought, the less she was able to come up with. Not only did she not have any idea where she was or how they got there, but she also failed to remember simple things- her past or even her name.

_...Who am I?_

She turned to face the round boy, nervously holding her arm. “I’m sorry to ask, but do I know you?”

“Huh? What’s that…” The boy staggered back, his mouth wide in shock. “Don’t tell me you forgot your memory again!?”

“Er, again?”

The boy ran his hand through his hair, a concerned look on his face. “O-Okay, I guess this… isn’t anything we haven’t dealt with before, right? Not that you’d know… haha…” He trailed off, then perked up. “I know, I’ll just tell you who you are! That’d work, right?”

The girl looked around the room, avoiding making eye contact. He sighed.

“Well, hopefully, you’ll get your memories back. I can’t go through everything right now, we’d be here for ages.” He looked around the room. “...Wherever _here_ is, anyway. Er, I’ll just run you through the basics, alright?”

He handed her a lollipop out of his pocket and sat down on the floor. She looked down at the candy and, still holding it with both her hands, sat down in front of the large boy. He sighed and pulled out a bag of chips.

“Where do I even begin? I-I guess I should introduce myself again. My name is Ryota Yakushimaru! We met back in a park, though the only thing that you remembered was your name- Eko.”

“Ah,” Eko said softly. The lollipop remained pressed between her fingers.

“Things went kinda downhill from there, I guess? We got attacked by something that wasn’t wearing a whole lot, then met up with Shiro and Kengo- oh yeah, those are our friends. Guildmates. Something like that…” He trailed off at the blank look Eko was giving him. “You don’t remember any of this?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

Ryota sighed. “Don’t worry, once we get out of here and find Shiro, I’m sure he can help go over what you’re missing. I’m not very good at explaining things, I think.” He finished chewing his chips and stuffed the bag back into his pocket.

Eko looked around the room again. “How did we get here?”

Ryota went silent and stood up, giving a quick glance over the room. “I don’t know how you got here, we weren’t together when… that… happened.” He paused before continuing, “I went out to grab us all snacks from the store, but when I got there it was empty. The lights shut off and the room filled with some gas! There was this man- or, maybe not? I’m not sure actually. They were in a gas mask behind the counter, watching me as everything started to black out. And you wanna know the worst part?”

Eko looked down at the lollipop that was still in her hands.

“I didn’t even get my snacks! What a jerk-”

At that exact moment, a loud buzzer sounded. A red light flashed on the ceiling. Ryota bolted upright, staring up at it. Eko stuck the lollipop he gave her into her shirt pocket, then got to her feet as well. The buzzer sounded again, and Ryota clapped his hands to his ears. Eko just looked around the room. She tapped Ryota’s shoulder gently as soon as she saw something off.

“Huh?”

She pointed at the bulky machine in the middle of the room and said, “The screens lit up.” However, a cool female voice blared through the room before the two of them could walk over and examine it further.

“Warning: Reactor at unstable conditions. 60 minutes until safety function failure. Please correct all remaining errors.”

“Reactor!?” Ryota balked, then rushed up to the screen. Confused, Eko followed after him and looked at it herself. Displayed on it was a bulleted list.

He read them out loud: “‘One, replace the coolant. Two, eliminate the virus. Three, restore proper turbine functionality.’ Huh. I guess we have to deal with these?” He turned to Eko, but she just stared absently at the screen. “Eko?”

She ran her finger along the imprint of the lollipop in her pocket.

_60 minutes?_

“When the safety fails, something bad will happen, won’t it?”

“Are you kidding- Oh, right. You might have forgotten. That’s some interesting amnesia. Well... it does depend on some other stuff, I guess. I remember Shiro saying that they’re super safe now. Even if it did go… wrong… any sorta damage would be pretty small. Though… if that thing is as close as this makes it seem…” Ryota trailed off, frowning while looking at the machine in front of them.

Eko took a moment to process this. “That’s… not good. We should get started.”

Ryota frowned, then put on a smile as he looked at Eko. “Right! I don’t know how to do all this, but I’ll follow your lead.” He patted Eko’s shoulder, causing her to flinch.

“I, uh- the first thing we should do is… have a look around.”

“Lead the way!” Ryota said, then they got to work exploring the area.

The room was quite tall, the ceiling reaching up what must have been several stories. The machine with the screen was in the middle of the floor. The machine itself consisted of what looked like two large metal bulbs, one on the left and one on the right. They were fused together by a metal block. On one side it had the monitor glowing with their objectives, right above a rectangular port.

Eko looked closer at the list. “So, what does this all mean?”

Ryota sighed and grabbed his bag of chips out of his pocket again. “Er… let me try and remember what Shiro said.” He picked out a chip and ate it, then pointed to the top objective. “I think this coolant stuff basically keeps the whole thing from overheating.”

“If it overheats, then…?”

Ryota’s face slumped into a worried frown. “It could… blow up, I think.”

“Ah. I guess that makes sense. What about the others?”

“Well... the virus means there’s something that’s messing with the computers of this thing, I guess. If the computers that keep this going go down… that can’t be good. As for the turbines, I think that’s how it generates power. Something must be wrong with them, so we’ll have to fix that.”

Eko took a mental note of all this and continued inspecting the room. On the opposite side of the connector was some sort of input. There was a label above it that had the letter “c,” and on the floor was a large circular port.

_This must be where that coolant stuff goes._

Eko touched her hand to the smooth surface of the bulb-shaped machine. It was slightly warm. “What is this?”

Ryota continued eating his chips. “I think these things are parts of the reactor itself? Although… I don’t know if that’s how it’s supposed to be shaped. They look kinda like dumplings.”

Finishing the inspection of the oddly shaped machine in the middle, they turned and looked over at the side of the room left of the monitor. On this side was an array of buttons, knobs, screens, and ports. Most of the screens were shut off, but one of them was lit up in the far corner. On it was a single bright color- green. Ryota looked at Eko, who was looking up and down the row. Without saying a word, she walked down about three-fourths of the way and stopped, focusing on a palette of 6 colors arranged in a hexagon. Starting at the top left and going clockwise, they were yellow, magenta, cyan, red, green, and blue.

Ryota sprinted to her, panting. “H-Hey, hold on! What’s up?”

Eko studied the colors carefully, then tapped magenta. A black border surrounded the color. She then tapped cyan, causing a black border to surround that as well. A light beep sounded, and the black borders changed to the same dark blue as one of the colors, then vanished. Eko subconsciously held onto her left shoulder as she thought.

“Eko?”

After a second, she spoke up. “Say you’re using paint or… food coloring or something. What happens if you combine yellow and cyan?”

Ryota thought for a second. “It turns light green, doesn’t it? ...Ah, I get it! But if you didn’t remember what a reactor was, why do you know that?”

Eko shrugged and tapped yellow and cyan. The borders surrounding them changed to the same light green they saw on the screen.

**Clunk.**

A panel slid away beside the monitor, which now glowed red. They walked over to it and saw a flash drive laying in a compartment behind two layers of glass. On the back wall were the letters “AV.” Eko looked to Ryota, who stuffed his bag of chips away again.

“Maybe that thing has some sorta… anti-virus software?”

Eko shrugged and headed back to the colored buttons.

_Red… that’s yellow and magenta, right?_

She tapped those buttons, and the borders glowed red, signaling one of the glass panels to slide away. This time, however, the screen glowed white with a single black symbol on it- a 5 pointed star.

“Oh, hey! That’s just like the one on the back of your hand.”

Eko took a moment to process this, then looked down at the back of her left hand. The same symbol was right there. She stared at Ryota, pointing to it.

He just laughed. “Ah, sorry Eko. I guess you probably wouldn’t remember anything about the app. Shiro will explain it again, don’t worry. Let’s just focus on fixing this thing first.”

“Yeah… let’s check out somewhere else then. We can’t do the same thing again here.”

Ryota nodded and followed her across the room, stopping in front of a set of pillars. There was a blinking light on one of them.

“These must be the turbines,” Ryota said. “I think that light means there’s something blocking it.”

“How do we get rid of it?”

Ryota looked up along the pillar, then pointed with his lollipop at a spot several feet up. “I think we need to get into that thing.”

“We’ll need a ladder or… something.”

The last thing in the room was on the wall behind the coolant station- a fire extinguisher box. It was locked. Ryota grabbed the key that was hanging off the side and tried to find a lock.

“Eh?”

Eko looked at the box herself. There wasn’t any lock anywhere. She tapped Ryota’s shoulder and pointed back toward the side of the room with the screens. She led him to a specific point along the machine covered wall.

“Here,” Eko said, pointing to a slot.

Ryota smiled and stuck the key in. “Good eye!”

A faint smile grew on her face at the compliment and she turned around. Ryota turned to see what Eko was looking at. A display had lit up on the far end of the wall, on the complete opposite side from the one with a star. It was now glowing blue. Eko stepped over to the color switches and, after hesitating slightly, pressed magenta and cyan. The border around them glowed blue and the sound of a motor echoed throughout the room. They turned around on the spot and watched as the pillars on the opposite side of the room fell down into the floor. They settled down with the hatch at eye level. Ryota and Eko glanced at each other, then rushed over. Before they could look closer, a beep sounded through the room, and they heard a familiar female voice.

“Warning: Reactor at unstable conditions. 30 minutes until safety function failure. Please correct all remaining errors.”

Eko glanced at Ryota, who nodded back, then opened the hatch.

“W-what’s in there?” Ryota asked, a note of worry creeping into his voice.

Eko sighed. “Calm down. We’ll be fine.” She reached in and felt around, grabbing hold of some sort of metal tube. She carefully pulled it out and shut the door. It clicked as soon as she shut it, locking as the turbines came to life with a mechanical hum. The pillars raised slowly back into the ceiling. “One down, right?” She said this with a small smile on her face.

Ryota took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right… Thanks, Eko.”

She held up the tube she was holding. It was a large L shaped tube, and she knew exactly where it fit in. “Come on, I think we’re almost done.”

Side by side, they walked over to the backside of the “dumplings,” as Ryota called them. She held up the pipe to the hole. It fit perfectly into both ports. When she pressed down, something inside clicked shut and locked the tube into place. The sound of a fluid rushing into the machine added to the hum of the turbines. After a few minutes, the fluid stopped and there was a short buzz from the reactor.

Ryota smiled and walked over to the other side of the machine. Eko turned to follow just as Ryota yelled back, “Eko! Come look!”

She picked up the pace and joined Ryota in front of the monitor. The screen was not only blank, it appeared to be turned off. Eko stared at the screen, confused.

Ryota looked at Eko uncertainly. “Did we… solve it?

_No, we couldn’t have._

Just as she started to shake her head, the cool voice blared above them once again. “Warning: Reactor at unstable conditions. 20 minutes until safety function failure. Please correct the remaining error.”

Eko walked over to the color puzzle again. She looked back at the blank screen.

Ryota looked on the verge of tears. “W-What can we do? What do we do, Eko? We don’t have a key for that star thing, do we?”

She stared at the black screen, thinking of option after often. Then, she felt a jolt of realization. She turned around abruptly, looking down at the colors. “Answer me something. If you were to combine, say... Magenta and green what would you get?”

“Black…? Oh!”

Eko nodded and tapped the two. It glowed black, but nothing happened. She pressed the two again, getting the same result. She leaned down with her hands on either side of the array, staring from button to button.

_...?_

Ryota held up his hand, where his ring was. “What about yellow and that blue? Might have to do with this thing.”

Eko looked down at her ring, the one with the two yellow lines, then tapped yellow and blue. There was a click as the extinguisher box unlocked. They looked at each other then ran up to it, wrenching the door open.

“Warning: Reactor at unstable conditions. 10 minutes until safety function failure. Please correct the remaining error.”

Inside the door was a picture of the star. Each of the 5 points was a different color, yellow, red, magenta, blue, and cyan, and the inner pentagon was green. Eko’s heart beat fast as she ran back to the colors, leaving Ryota behind. She reached the colored buttons and slammed down on all of them at once. A rainbow border surrounded the buttons and the last pane of glass slid open. The drive was free.

Ryota grabbed the stick, ran over to the blank monitor on the reactor, then shoved it into the port beneath it. The screen flashed white, and the red light that had been flashing the whole time ceased. Ryota fell to the floor, his arms splayed on the ground. His chest rose and fell as he took deep breaths. Eko sighed and took a seat next to him, letting him rest. They sat there for a minute, 3 minutes, 10 minutes... nothing happened. They were safe. Eko looked up at the monitor. A star was glowing on the screen.

Curious, Eko stood back up and plodded over to the fire extinguisher box, looking closer at the star. Now that she wasn’t under the same pressure, she reached in and pulled it out of the red box. The star was the same multi-colored picture she had first seen, but on closer inspection, it was drawn on the picture of the back of a hand.

Ryota stepped up behind her. “Hey, it’s like your mark… though, it’s kinda weird.”

Eko stared blankly at the picture. She put her hand with the mark over it, lining up the stars. It was the exact same size, but the thumb of the drawing stuck out to the left. She folded the paper and stuffed it into her pocket next to the lollipop Ryota gave her.

“That’s something, huh?” Ryota said as he pulled out and unwrapped another lollipop.

Eko shrugged and tried her best to put it out of her mind, then looked into the box again. The paper had been hiding a large purple button. She reached out, then hesitated.

“What’s wrong?”

Eko took her hand back and held her arms. “I’m just… curious is all. Why hide a button behind that picture? It’s like they- well, whoever brought us here- wanted us to see it… or…”

Ryota chuckled and pressed the button. There was a slam as a door opened up on the wall opposite the reactor. “Do you remember anything now?”

Eko averted her eyes and shook her head.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re the same as you were! So cool and unfazed, y’know?”

“Huh?”

Ryota laughed. “I’ve only seen you seriously upset once or twice! Plus, every time we come across some sorta mystery you always think pretty hard about it. It’s just nice to see that hasn’t changed… although, that does get on Kengo’s nerves a lot. He’s more ‘punch first, ask questions later.’”

Eko stared at him. “Er, do we get along?”

“Oh, sure. Everyone’s different, y’know? But that doesn’t mean you can’t be good friends!” He walked toward the open door. “You coming?”

“Yeah,” she said, paused, then added, “...thank you, Ryota,” Eko said, then walked with Ryota out of the room. With a loud slam, the door shut tight behind them. The steady hum of the room cut away instantly. The two of them walked together through a silent, featureless hallway. The sound of Ryota’s half filled chip bag crinkled as he walked. Every so often, Eko would ask a question, then he would answer in turn.

“Do you know where I’m from?”

“Oh... I don’t know, actually. Not even you did.”

“Was I a good person?”

“Of course! Well, you definitely were since I met you. Don’t know what you were like before you forgot your memory the first time.”

“Was I, uh, in any sort of relationship?”

“Not as far as I know. I remember you got super wasted one night and ranted about it.”

“I what?”

“Eko, I have _never_ seen anyone drink as hard as you do in my entire life. It’s a little scary, really.”

“Huh. I guess I can see that.”

“Do you remember anything now?”

Eko shook her head and asked more about the world, what a guild was, what the app was, what a rule was, and eventually, they ran out of questions and answers. Their footsteps echoed in the empty halls as their silence permeated the room. They reached the end of the hall, boasting a large wooden door. Without a word, Ryota opened the door and walked through, Eko following in his wake.

They walked out into a room that was not unlike a train station. The ceiling looked like it was carved from a rock, and the air felt cool and damp. Eko breathed in deep, feeling relaxed. Ahead of them were three different rails, each having a different color set of tracks. On the left was blue, in the middle was green, and on the far right was red.

“Eko!”

She turned around in time to see a thin, blue-haired girl run at her, jump, then land in a pose mere inches away from her. Strapped to her back was a stringed instrument half the size of her body. Eko backed up and looked at Ryota, whose mouth was wide open in shock. The girl flicked Eko’s forehead, looking disgruntled. “What’s that expression supposed to mean?

Ryota sighed and pulled a lollipop out of his pocket. “That’s a bit of a story. Is there anyone else here?”

The girl turned on Ryota, steaming. “And just who are you!?”

“I’m Ryota, Eko’s friend! You’re Benten, aren’t you?”

Benten grinned and twirled a charm on the end of her finger. There was a ring on her hand- two cyan bands ran across it, matching the color of her hair. “So you’re a fan?”

Ryota motioned toward Eko. “She told me about you. Said you were very… energetic.”

Benten grabbed Eko’s arm, causing her to jump slightly. “Guess who’s here!”

Eko was thoroughly confused, though the only sign she showed was how she looked down at the hand holding onto her. “Uh… who?”

“Ahab!”

“Who?”

“...Ahab? Captain Ahab?”

Eko just stared blankly at her.

“Oh, come on,” Benten groaned, then pulled Eko toward a room.

Ryota chased after her. “H-Hey, wait!”

They charged into the room, Benten practically carrying Eko through the air. They stopped at the entranceway. The six that were in the room turned to see why Benten was causing so much noise.

“Good grief. Both ye brats are here now…?”

Eko shook her head, shaking off the disorientation caused by Benten dragging her along, then focused on the source of the gruff voice. She blinked.

“You’re… a buffalo?”

The large horned beast man looked from Benten to Eko, his pipe blowing up rings of smoke. He was large, dark-furred, had a large white beard and was heavily scarred. Scars ran along his arms, over his right eye, and even his left leg was gone- replaced with a metal prosthetic. From the looks of it, he was dressed as some sort of captain.

He opened his mouth, blowing smoke out his nose. “What’d ye do ta her, brat!?”

Benten balked. “I-I didn’t do anything! I don’t think she hit anything on the way here… honest!”

At that moment, Ryota burst into the room, his eyes falling on the buffalo and a few of the others in the room. He smacked a hand to his head. “Oh, right! I forgot to mention that transients… exist… haha…”

“What happened to Eko!?” Benten yelled, grabbing and shaking Ryota violently.

“She…! Forgot…!” Ryota said, trying to break free of Benten’s grip.

Benten released him, causing him to fall to the floor. “What? How?”

Ryota got up while rubbing his head. “Agh, I dunno. As far as I can tell, she just woke up like this.”

Eko was starting to feel uncomfortable as everyone looked at her. “Ah… I’m sorry.”

A kid wearing a labcoat stood up, ending up only slightly taller than he was sitting down. “Interesting. If Eko doesn’t remember us, let’s just tell each other who we are.” He looked right at Eko then added, “You all must have seen the star back at the reactor. No matter how she lost her memories, there’s a good chance she’s connected in all of this. I’d be surprised if any of us didn’t know her… Regardless, she should introduce herself too. Just to be sure.”

Ryota sat down and sighed, pulling out a third lollipop. “Well, I’ll go first then. I’m Ryota! I’m Eko’s friend, we woke up together. I tried to explain some things to her, but I missed… a lot. So... she doesn’t know any of you anymore… Sorry.” He looked sheepishly at Eko.

Benten introduced herself next. “I’m Benten, the rockin’ star with a million followers and-”

The buffalo beastman interrupted her. “Well well, and ye were just mouthin’ off that ye keep gettin’ ignored.”

Benten glared at him. “Well, why don’t you go next then, Captain buzzkill?”

He sighed and breathed out a cloud of smoke. “I’m Captain Ahab. Ye can call me Captain or Ahab, I don’t care. This brat and I woke up in the same place.” He held up his hand, showing a band with two cyan lines, the perfect match to Benten’s. “Even without yer memories, ye still seem mostly the same to me, brat. Not even showin’ a little surprise at there bein’ talkin’ beasts. Heh.” He finished this with a dark shadow passing over his eyes.

_Brat? Did I do something?_

“Hey-hey-hey, Captain! Don’t be so down!” cackled a dark blue hyena with bright green hair and a tail made of orange hands. Eko thought he looked like a DJ, so long as she ignored the absurd nature of his body. “I’m sure our dear lassie will get some memories in time. Don’t get too excited though, we don’t want you to limp out later~”

“Get on with it!” Ahab shouted.

“This dog’s name is the one, the only, Nyaaaaaaaaarlathotep!” His tail clapped behind him as he bowed, sticking his tongue out at Eko. On his right hand was a ring with two magenta bands.

“Pardon my friend here,” said a mysterious lady garbed in a fancy gray dress. A mask covered half her face and she held a closed umbrella across her lap. On her finger was another ring with two magenta bands, matching Nyarlathotep’s. “You can call me Christine.”

“Y-You sound familiar,” said a large bear, dressed in a lab coat. He looked very nervous. “Have I met you before?”

“Why, my dearest Jambavan... I may not have met you before, but that is not to say that I am not familiar.”

Jambavan looked confused. “...Well, you definitely sound like someone else I know.” He turned to Eko. “S-Sorry, my name is Jambavan. I’m a, uh, a medical student.” He reached out a hand to shake Eko’s hand, which she took after a moment of hesitation. He had a ring with a single yellow band on it.

The old man in the corner spoke next. “Ohoho, It is good to see you in good health, despite your current condition. My name is Ded Moroz, though I often go as Santa Claus.” As he lifted his hand to say hi, Eko made out a band with a single cyan band. “Do you remember Santa, if not me? A jolly old man dressed in red, giving presents to good boys and girls?”

Eko thought, her arm drifting over to her shoulder again. After an uncomfortable few seconds, she spoke up. “I know who you’re talking about but… I don’t remember the name ‘Santa.’ It’s weird... I don’t have any name, er, associated with that.”

It was true, and the thought of it rubbed Eko the wrong way. When Ded described Santa, there was a part of her that said, _“Of course I know who that is!”_ When she tried to remember a name, however, it was gone. It wasn’t like something was on the tip of her tongue, it was just... not there.

Jambavan looked worriedly at Eko. “...Eh? That’s weird… if you had what I thought you did, you should either be able to remember nothing about Santa or everything about him. Forgetting just the name…? A-Anything else?”

Ryota thought to himself for a second. “She didn’t know that much about nuclear reactors, I guess. Oh, but she did know her colors!”

Jambavan looked slightly more confused, but he stopped talking.

“Ah,” Eko said, “At this point, I think at this point you all know me better than I do. I’m Eko, I woke up next to Ryota.” She held up her finger and showed her ring with the two yellow bands. “I’m sorry I don’t remember you, but it’s really nice to meet you all! Again… I guess…”

Duo nodded. “And I’m Duo. It looks like some of you picked up on the meaning of these rings. That’s good.” He held up his ring, showing off a magenta band. “Single bands were solo, while double bands have an ally. As for what these are for-”

“Allow me to answer that.”

A loud, deep, warped voice blared out of a speaker in the corner of the room.

“And just who are you!?” yelled Ded. Eko turned around and saw that, where the jolly Ded with a white beard used to be standing, he now had a black suit and dark hair. He was holding a cigar aloft in his hand. She turned back to the speaker, accepting that if a buffalo could speak and Nyarlathotep could exist, then a man could change so drastically.

“Now, now… do not interrupt me. If you want to get through here and solve the final puzzle, you have to know the rules of this game.”

Ahab put his hand on Benten’s shoulder, who had already opened her mouth to retort. She sat down next to him begrudgingly.

“My name is Zero. I am the one who kidnapped all of you, just as I am the same one who is responsible for the girl’s condition.”

Eko’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at the speaker. Duo turned briefly to look at her, then looked away.

_“Zero” did this to me? But… why?_

“In this game, a game known as the Nonary Game, you will have to escape a series of puzzles. You must go into them with specific groups. The rules are as follows: One- you can only go into a room with one single duo and one single solo. You cannot go with anything else. Two- the colors must make the correct color. If you choose to disregard those simple rules or attempt to cause any… problems... there will be a punishment.”

The nine of them looked around the room at each other.

_Punishment?_

“Should you disregard these instructions, the ring will inject you with a highly potent toxin. I assure you, the death will be quick and… mostly painless. At the very least, your suffering shouldn’t last more than half a minute. This punishment will also happen if you try to destroy or remove the ring. Your first task awaits. Don’t mess it up.”

There was a click, and the voice shut off. The nine of them looked at each other, then back down at their rings. The sound of a train pulling into the station echoed in the cavern. They all walked outside, seeing three open-air trains- one red, one blue, one green. A digital clock started counting down- half an hour until when they presumably had to leave.

“Generous of Zero to give us so much time to discuss,” Christine said with a gentle laugh. “Or, perhaps... it is cruel to give us this long to deliberate on our situation, hmm?”

Jambavan looked around nervously. “T-This must be why we had that puzzle with the colors, right?”

Duo nodded. “It must be. Before we go through either of our options, I have a question for all of you. We were all taken in the same way, correct?”

“Ah… You mean, being taken out by smoke then kidnapped by someone in a mask?” said Ded, his beard white again. The rest of them nodded, other than Eko.

Duo turned his eyes to her and said, “I highly doubt you remember anything from when you were taken. In fact…” He trailed off and looked at the time remaining. There was still quite a while until the trains left. “Never mind.”

_Huh?_

Duo squatted down, staring into the tunnels. “Don’t use your sacred artifacts.”

Benten stopped fiddling with her biwa in confusion. “Hey, why not? You trying to limit my creative potential!?”

He turned and looked at her instrument, then looked at the rest of them in turn. “I only know what some of your rules do, but when Zero said to avoid causing any ‘problems,’ I think the greatest chance you have to cause something like that is using a rule. Especially you, Eko.”

Eko looked down at Duo. “My rule? What do you mean?”

“So you don’t remember your rule. Interesting.”

Ryota stepped forward, frowning. “How is that interesting? If she doesn’t remember anyone, why would she remember that?” He stared down at Duo, who said nothing.

“...Should we plan out which trains we’re all going on?” Jambavan said, putting his hands together.

Duo sighed and got up. “There are only two real options here. Since it needs to be three people, those who have partners can’t team up with another team with partners, and solos can’t pair with solos. I couldn’t go with Jambavan, and Eko and Ryota couldn’t go with Christine and Nyarlathotep.” He pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his pocket. He wrote down the cyan duo- Benten and Ahab, the yellow duo- Ryota and Eko, the magenta duo- Nyarlathotep and Christine, then the respective solos- Ded, Jambavan, and Duo. “The only two options are as follows: Eko, Ryota, and I take the red train, Christine, Nyarlathotep, and Ded take the blue train, and the last three take the green train. The other option is that Christine, Nyarlathotep, and Jambavan take the red train, Ahab, Benten, and I take the blue train, and Eko, Ryota, and Ded take the green train. That being said, I want to go with Eko. I have some questions.”

“So what?” Ded was back to his black Ded appearance. “Why not just ask her in front of us, you- Ah, sorry about that.” Ded transformed back into White Ded mid-sentence.

“Is that just a thing that happens?” Eko whispered to Ryota.

He took a lollipop out of his mouth and whispered back, “Yeah. Weird, right? You get used to it. Knowing you, you’re already used to it.”

Eko stared at Ded, who was rubbing the back of his head. “I think he just wants to go with Eko, but he’ll never say that.” He chuckled as if he heard something funny.

Duo got up and looked at the clock. 10 minutes were left.

“Data.”

Ded focused on him, frowning. “Pardon?”

“I don’t have any problem with telling you what I’m thinking, but I want more data before I’m sure. That’s why I want to go with Eko. Anyone else have a problem with my layout?”

Ded said nothing but moved back as if to concede defeat. The rest of them looked at each other, lost for words. Some of them fidgeted with their ring, not daring to try and pull it off. Benten toyed around with her biwa, and Captain Ahab puffed away on his pipe, the smoke billowing up toward the dark stone roof.

A few minutes passed, and Duo spoke up, looking at Eko. “If that’s settled, let’s get ready to go.”

The clock now said 5 minutes left. Each of them went on their respective trains, with Eko following Ryota and Duo aboard and taking a seat. Her face betrayed little emotion, but she reached down and felt the imprint of the candy Ryota had given her. When the clock hit 0, the doors locked with a click.

“Remember to keep all hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times! We’ll arrive at the gift shop soon, baby!” Nyarlathotep called to the rest of them as their engines started to move, each of them reaching the tunnel at the same time. As they passed under the tunnel, lights along the side glowed in a pattern- yellow, yellow, magenta. After a second, they flashed red and returned to normal.

Ryota pulled out a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth while Duo stared ahead into the tunnel. Eko continued to feel the lollipop in her pocket.

_What’s going on? Everything happened so fast… At least, they all seem like pleasant people. I wonder if I should ask Ryota about them. Well… maybe I should just talk to each of them myself._

She looked behind them, the light of the cavern fading as they got further and further away. A shiver passed through her.

_Whatever’s coming… I hope we can get past it. And…_

Zero’s words passed through her mind.

_What is that “final puzzle?”_


	2. Blue Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eko, Duo, and Ryota go through the laboratory.

_Hello?_

Her voice echoed in her mind as she tried to speak out in the vast nothingness surrounding her. She tried to move her body, to make a sound, to see something that wasn’t there. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

_How did I get here?_

An image flashed in her mind. A huge pile of rubble, tendrils of light and fire descending down from the sky, a solitary door bearing the number zero. Just as soon as it came, it vanished into the unending darkness.

_What was that…?_

It was an unfamiliar sensation, the feeling of reaching out but having nothing respond. She tried to grab the nothingness before her, but she felt no part of herself move. She tried to cup her face, but there was nothing, either no hands with which to grab, or no face to be held. Perhaps both.

She tried to reach out again, to reach as far as she possibly could. She strained for what felt like hours, for what felt like seconds, experiencing eternity, or perhaps just the briefest moment. A tingling sensation crawled up through what should have been her hands, and a dizzying swarm of images filled her mind.

_A room filled with faces, the names of which were left on the tip of her tongue._

_A sheet lined with numbers, the answer to some puzzle she could not recall._

_A window spanning the length of a room, the only barrier from the water outside. An illustration of one of the faces from before- of a friend._

_A wedding hall donned with flowers and stained glass displays. The image of that sobbing girl garbed in pink, and the boy in blue from the opposite side. A key bearing the likeness of herself and another from before- the one she loved._

_A string of images, a feeling of utter desperation, and the introduction of… Zero._

She felt a tension on herself, feeling as if she would be ripped apart. She tried to clench her eyes shut, to wrap her arms over her head, but there was no change in what she saw. The world crumbling to bits around her, buildings on all sides being destroyed by 8 beings high up in the sky. She felt as if she were sobbing, but her vision wasn’t marred by any tears. Her gasps weren’t met with a rush of air, but she suffered no loss of consciousness.

_Nyarlathotep… Melusine… Ose…_

Those 8 beings, those 8 aberrant beings filled her vision. Then her eyes, her perspective, shot back down to the ground. Watching as each of the remnants of those earlier faces walked toward the number zero door.

_Alice…_

A flash of steel and a cut off scream. The girl vanished, nothing left but a fine, red mist.

_Tadatomo…_

The acrid smell of smoke consumed her senses as the dog transient fell away into a pile of burnt ash.

_Shiro… Shuichi…_

The two of them fell away, each looking toward the other in a sign of mutual respect. A flash of bloody scarlet and the gleam of green light, and the two disappeared as well.

_Captain…_

Her heart wrenched as harpoons embedded his body into the ground, his scarred face turned toward her in a last farewell.

_And… and… you…_

Sparks of light flew up from a large piece of rubble, where that atrocious door once stood.

_I… remember…_

She tried to hold herself, to let herself fall away again, to forget everything she had just remembered. It was to little avail. The image of Captain Ahab’s body supported by the harpoons, being denied the chance to touch the ground, filled her mind. She felt as if her very soul were sobbing, begging for the chance to just stop. Begging for the chance for a different ending.

_All I wanted, all I ever wanted…_

She felt something shift inside her, feeling as if someone were calling out to her. The sound of waves, the smell of the sea, they washed over her as if trying to brush away her tears.

_...Was a happy ending with him…_

She tried to lift her head and see the source of it. Something shifted around her, and suddenly bright lights surrounded her. Each of them bore a trace of something familiar.

_It’s like… the feeling I had with him…?_

In one light there was a tall muscular man drinking with Captain Ahab. In another was a skinny man tying some masts while looking over to Ahab, who was watching over the ocean. In yet another was a short kid riding Ahab’s shoulders. There were dozens of such scenes, always showing both Ahab and someone she didn’t recognize. In some of the lights, they even bore a striking resemblance to herself.

_That should be me… Why couldn’t it have been me…_

She reached forward toward the picture, then drew back as she saw something- something that reminded her of what she had gone through. A specific drink, some action, a replica of the bracelet they wore, even a wedding identical to the one she had taken part in. She tried to run, to run away from all of them. She jumped frantically from light to light, each time seeing something about that past tragedy.

_Can I never be free!? Was this… always going to happen...?_

She reached out toward one last light, one that was glowing with a blue tint. Before her was some sort of Christmas scene. In spite of everything she felt, she tried to smile at how at peace Ahab seemed. Him, Benten, Ganglie, even Aegir and Ebisu, and a short boy she didn’t recognize- each of them had a smile on their face, and she felt herself trying to mimic them- trying to find some happiness in the crushing sorrow she could not dispel. Then, she heard some tinny notes play. They played a song that she knew well, yet a song that she had heard only once before.

_No… not here too…_

She tried to pull herself away, but something kept her in place. Both Ahab and the short boy froze, staring at the music box. It felt like something was pulling her in despite her wishes to leave. It was as if someone close to her was reaching out, trying to remember her, to bring her back. She focused on the scene before her. Tears poured down the boy’s face as he listened to the song, watching the music box intently, though he didn’t seem to realize that he was doing it. Ahab, however, looked at the box with a faraway, weary look in his eye.

She felt herself lurch as the scene shifted forward- the short kid stood up from his seat, setting a small book open on the floor. He stepped unsteadily over to Ahab, then leapt on him, knocking the captain down. They looked at each other, then locked lips. The book on the floor laid open to pictures of them all together- Ahab, Benten, Ganglie, the rest of her friends from her times on the sea… and that same kid.

_But… he’s with…_

_Why can’t I just… why did it have to be…_

A seed of jealousy, of rage, of despair, blossomed in the pit of her very soul. She tried to step closer, to drag herself toward this bright, wondrous world, to bring herself closer to that which she couldn’t have. To bring herself closer to that which she had been denied.

The scene shifted.

Ahab’s deep voice sounded out over the snow aboard the deck of his ship. “Ye ever hear the tale of the bluebird?”

“Huh? Like, that bottle I got from Ganglie?”

She looked around, disorientated. They- Ahab and the boy from before- were directly in front of her. She felt so close to them, yet so far, as if she could just reach out and be there herself. She tried to scream out to him, but no words came out. As she could tell by now, she had no body of her own.

“...Hm. Maybe so. In the story, there are these two siblings who go searchin’ the world fer a bluebird, somethin’ that embodies happiness. Adventure after adventure, they can’t find it. Eventually, they wind up back at home, only to find the blue bird right there in their backyard.”

The boy thought for a moment then said, “‘Happiness is closer than you think,’ huh?”

Ahab looked down at their hands, fingers wrapped around each other. “That’s somethin’ to take from it. But… it’s not the only thing.”

She felt herself lurch as if someone had pulled her heart- or where her heart should have resided.

“What do you mean?”

“When the two brats go to feed the bluebird, it up and flies away. Ye could say… as soon as ye think ye’ve found happiness, ye lose it again.”

They stood there for a minute in silence, then the boy spoke up. “Do you think that’s true?”

She wanted nothing more than to cry out yes, to confirm what he had just said. To carry her thoughts, to tell them her feelings, to give them nothing but definitive proof. But she could not.

The captain’s brow furrowed, and he let go of the boy’s hand, not giving an answer.

The kid lifted a hand to his face, then pulled away, a tear glistening on the end of his finger. “I want to say that’s stupid and pessimistic, but…” He trailed off.

“...There’s a part of ye that feels like that’s happened before. That ye’ve lost the bluebird already.” Ahab finished.

She had nothing to say, nothing to even attempt. Her perspective plummeted downwards as if her legs had crumpled beneath her. She stared at the two of them, feeling as if her heart couldn’t break anymore.

_Ahab…? You… know how this feels…? But how does that boy-_

Zero’s explanation on why she had to do what she wanted her to do, her reason why she had to endure such sorrow, flashed in her mind. She felt the dawn of realization, but it did little to soothe her.

_So that’s why. He’s…_

The short one nodded and leaned against the side of the ship, staring into the gray sky. The expression on his face conveyed a feeling, the feeling that he knew there was a part of him that felt that way, that there was a part of him that could hold nothing but sorrow. At that moment, she reached out, stretching her non-existent form toward the boy. She felt something within him.

_...me._

“Just who are you, Asuka?”

//

The wind whipped by their faces as the train pushed forward through the tunnel. All three of them sat in silence, staring forward as the lights lit before them. Eko looked at her two allies uncertainly. It wasn’t long before the train started to slow down, pulling into a small, dimly lit building. They came to a halt, the engine blowing out steam. Ryota stood up, stretching and dropping a small bag of candy to the floor. Duo glanced at him as he stood up and, passing him by, stepped off the train. Eko waited until Ryota finished picking up his candy, then followed him off as well. The train’s doors shut and it rolled forward into a pitch black tunnel, out of sight.

Duo sighed and looked over Ryota, who was stuffing a small handful of candy into his pockets. “I wonder why Zero let you bring so much in.”

Ryota popped a piece into his mouth. “Eh? Oh, I guess that is weird.”

Eko folded her arms and thought. “Maybe… they don’t care? I can’t imagine why else.”

Duo walked toward a door on the opposite side of the rundown building. “You might be onto something.” He then grabbed the old brass doorknob, pushed the door open, and walked out. Eko exchanged a glance with Ryota, then followed Duo out the door.

Where the place they had just been in was run down and dilapidated, this place was smooth and new, giving off a sterile feeling. The vague smell of disinfectant lingered in the cold air. Tables, chairs, counters, and machines sat atop a smooth linoleum floor, illuminated by the artificial lights above them. On the far end of the room was a locked door. A steady hum came from a number of the machines, providing something to fill the silence. None of that, however, was nearly as interesting as what was in the middle of the room. A large meter-wide glass cylinder filled with some sort of green liquid reached from the floor to the ceiling. Eko hesitantly reached out and touched it.

_It’s warm._

“Oh hey, I know what that is,” Ryota said. "It’s that cloning stuff, right? Shiro was talking about it not that long ago!”

_Cloning?_

Duo stepped over next to them. He looked over the tube, then rolled his eyes. “Sure. Theoretically, you can make a clone of a human being in this. It’s not very impressive in practice.”

Eko blinked. “Why not?”

“Well for one, that liquid is really just a medium. You need other machines to do most of the work, not that those seem to be missing in this lab.” He looked over his shoulder at some of the machines, then continued. “The other problem is that we don’t have any means to clone a soul, or not that I know of.”

“A soul?”

Duo threw an exasperated look at the machine. “Without a soul, they might as well be dead. If you cloned just a body, it wouldn’t do anything of its own free will. I’m sure if my obnoxious brother were here, he’d say ‘at that point, can they even be considered human’ or something like that.”

“I see…”

Ryota spoke up from the other side of the room, looking at a device. “Hey, there’s a screen here! I think it has some instructions.” The two of them headed toward him as he listed them off. “‘For human replication, ensure all variables are accounted for. Tap to begin.’ Huh...” Ryota scratched the side of his head, then tapped it. Three screens lit up on the opposite side of the room. One of them was above an indent in the wall, while another lit up above a keyboard. The third was a large screen depicting a diagram of the tube in the middle. Ryota looked back down at the device as Duo walked off toward the other side of the room. “Now it says, ‘resolve all variables.’”

Eko turned and walked over to the large screen. Under closer inspection, the display had a few notes beside the tube, each of them having a red exclamation mark beside them. She read aloud, “Circulation mechanism not applied. Biological material not detected. Elemental material not detected.” She turned to Duo, hoping for some answers. He closed a cabinet he had been looking through and put his hands in his coat pockets, walking over to her.

He glanced at the screen she was pointing at. “The first part means that fluid in the tube needs to be circulated. It’s specially made so that it has what a human body needs in order to stay alive, but the nutrients in it need to be replaced every so often so the body doesn’t wither away and die.”

_Gruesome._

“Biological material means DNA- we’ll need a sample, probably found in this lab.” He looked briefly at Eko’s blank expression, then continued. “The ‘elemental material’ likely refers to the specific elements and chemicals that make up our bodies. You can’t just make something out of nothing, at least not like this. In order for the machine to properly create a body, the gel needs to be saturated with all the... ingredients, so to speak.”

Eko looked back at the gel, thinking. “Huh… I know the body definitely needs a lot of certain elements, but there are other... ‘trace elements,’ right? How are we supposed to get the amount of stuff needed for that?” Duo didn’t reply, causing her to look back at him. He was staring at her as if scrutinizing her as if she had said something very interesting. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. In any case, I doubt that will be a problem, knowing how these machines work. Go look at the computer over there, by the keyboard. Don’t talk to me again until you finish.” He then stepped back over to the cabinet he was looking in before. Eko walked over to the keyboard and looked at the screen, as per Duo’s instructions.

Ryota popped up behind her and frowned at the screen. “Input password? What password?”

Eko looked at the blinking line of text. “I don’t know, but I guess we’ll have to find that. I guess we’ll have to look around.”

And so they got to work, opening up cabinets and looking in drawers. Duo assured them that whatever password they were looking for wasn’t in the one he was standing by. Most of the cabinets were empty, but they did find a few things of note. Inside a drawer next to a sink was a small knife, and the sink itself had two oblong rubber things poking off of the sides. Inside another cabinet was a box of baking soda, which they set down on the counter. The last thing they found was some sort of identification card underneath one of the chairs. Most of it was unreadable due to large chunks of it being stained by something dark. Eko stared at the card in her hands.

_Is this… blood?_

Her eyes wandered the ID as she took in what little she could from it.

**-genetic-**

**11315B1**

**-Kurashiki**

A chill ran down Eko’s spine as she read the name at the bottom of the card. The first name and the picture associated with the name were unrecognizable thanks to the card’s condition, but there was something about that name alone that made her uneasy.

“Eko? You alright?”

Ryota was looking at her, frowning. She breathed out and regained her composure. “...I’m fine, sorry. I think this has the password on it.”

They walked back over to the computer, where Ryota placed his hands on the keyboard. “Could you, er, read it out loud? I... don’t remember what it was.”

“Oh, sure.” Eko lifted up the card and read aloud, “11315B1.” She heard a cabinet close behind her and saw that Duo was standing next to them again, looking down at the card she was holding. He held out his hand, silently asking to see the card. She passed it over to him just as Ryota finished typing it in.

“Ah! It worked! Look, Eko!” She looked back at the screen, which appeared to be running a process in the corner. Then, a dialogue box popped up, bearing a question. Ryota read aloud, “What is the most prevalent element in the human body?” He turned and looked at Eko and Duo, though he was still looking at the card, thinking about something. “Isn’t that… carbon?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Eko said. Duo perked up and looked at her with his eyebrows raised, though he still looked somewhat bored. “I think it’s oxygen.” She continued on at Ryota’s shocked expression, “I mean, 65 percent of the human body is water, right? Since oxygen is much larger than hydrogen, most of water is oxygen. Not to mention other places where oxygen is.”

“You’re telling me... you remember what makes up the body, but not your own name?”

Eko looked vacantly from him to the computer. “I guess that’s a little weird.”

“Uh, yeah. A little.” Regardless, he put ‘oxygen’ into the blank. A whirring noise came from the large tube in the middle of the room. The display showing the tube updated, and the warning about the elemental material was updated to say “sufficient elemental quantity detected.” As soon as the sound ceased, the computer reverted back to the original screen, asking for a password.

Duo took the card and put it in his pocket. “Do you know what hexadecimal is? Eko?”

_Hexadecimal?_

She racked her brain, but nothing came up. “No, sorry. Should I?”

“Hey, what about me?” Ryota asked indignantly. Duo turned his eyes lazily toward him, to which Ryota said, “W-Well, I don’t. But you still could have asked!”

Duo stepped up to the keyboard, scooting Ryota aside. He quickly hit five keys, pressed enter, and backed off. The sound of something sliding open was accompanied by a low hum, and the warning about the circulation was replaced by “circulation mechanism active.” Duo stepped away from the computer and sat down in one of the chairs.

“What did you put in?” Eko asked.

Duo shrugged. “It’s not important. Or… it’s not important right now, maybe. I’ll tell you when I have more data.”

Ryota pulled out a lollipop and started sucking on it. “Oh, hold on. You told Ded you wanted to come with us for some data, right? What was that about?”

Duo looked off to the side, then pointed at the last screen. “On the screen, you’ll see the combination ATCATT. In the cabinet, there are strings of similar codes, only one of which truly matches. Ryota, don’t help her find it, and don’t give her any hints.”

“...Eh? Why not?”

“Just don’t.”

Eko nodded, confused, then opened up the cabinet. Just as Duo had said, there were lines of boxes- each of them having a different string of letters. From the look of them, they would fit perfectly into that slot on the wall beneath the monitor bearing the code. It didn’t take her very long to find a match. She took it out and handed it out to Duo. He looked at it.

“So... I’m guessing you don’t know what this code means. That’s about what I expected.”

Eko set aside the one she had picked up, one bearing the code ATCATT. “Er… no, sorry.”

Duo stood up and pulled a near identical box out of his pocket, but this one had the code TAGTAA. He handed it to Eko. “That code is a small sequence of nucleotide bases. In DNA, or the ‘biological material’ I mentioned earlier, they are stored with matching bases. Adenine matches to Thymine, while Cytosine matches to Guanine. That’s about all you need to know for the sake of this puzzle, not that you needed to know anything. This sequence is quite odd, though. Two ‘stop’ codons...?” He trailed off, looking at the code. He shrugged slightly and looked back at Eko. “...Regardless of what you had known, the correct answer would be in my pocket anyway.”

“But…” Ryota said, holding his candy up in the air, “why trick Eko like that?”

“Data. Specifically, I wanted information on Eko’s memory. We know that Zero tampered with her in some way, at least if we believe what he said. The most curious part about this is precisely what she remembers. Her memories of herself are gone, as are her memories of others, and those of the app. However, she still knows oddly specific things, like the composition of a human body or the concept of Santa Claus. Yet, she doesn’t know the simplest part of DNA.”

“Y-You know why I’m like this?” Eko said, holding onto the box.

“No. I have an idea what Zero did, but I don’t know why or how. My theory is that, whatever he did, he did something to limit you from having too much information. Unnecessary information that isn’t basic, rudimentary stuff seems to have been filtered out, like about DNA base pairs. You didn’t need to know about it because I already solved it. Information that is too important, such as presumably how you got here, is also missing. Knowledge of things that would help you are still in your head, like information about the chemical composition of the human body. Or perhaps… they’ve been placed in you by Zero.”

Eko looked down at the unfamiliar code in her hands. “If that’s the case, why doesn’t the name ‘Santa’ ring a bell? Why would my memories of my friends be too important?”

Duo shrugged. “I could be wrong. That’s just what I think Zero is trying to do with this. Otherwise, your amnesia is too specific for me to make any real conclusions on. At the very least, not right now.”

“Hmm…” Eko picked up the box and turned around, facing the slot where the box would fit. “That’s… worrying. If it really is important though, I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, right?”

_Although, Duo must have already known the answers. Is he wrong? Or perhaps… maybe he’s right and Zero just wanted us to make the connection. But then, if that’s true… why?_

She pushed the box into the indent, feeling it lock into place. There was a small click, and the warning about the biological material changed to “biological material primed.” All the warnings were gone now.

“Hey, all the warnings are gone now!” Ryota said, helpfully. “How do we activate it?”

Duo stepped over to a machine next to the sink and picked up the baking soda. He pointed at the rubber things in the sink. Ryota reached down and squeezed on one of them. He swiveled back to Eko.

“Hey, these are weird! It’s like this rubbery stuff is super thin at the base of these ...rubber things!”

She reached down and felt the base, confirming what Ryota had said. Taking a look closer at the sink, she saw that the drain consisted of two holes, about as wide as these rubber knobs. She spotted the knife laying on the counter beside the sink.

_What if…?_

She grabbed it, then carefully cut the rubber along the thin part of it. When she made an entire circle around, the rubber slipped off into the sink, plugging up one of the holes. The rubber things had been hiding some exposed wires, which now stretched out from the sides of the sink, hanging down into the basin. Careful not to touch these, she did the same with the other knob, exposing more wires and plugging up the other side of the drain. Duo opened up the box of baking soda and poured some into the sink.

Ryota balked. “Eh? Why’d you do that?”

“Stand back.” Duo rolled his eyes and turned on the water, slowly filling up the sink. “Adding baking soda increases the conductivity of water. Other stuff would do too, like table salt.”

“Ahhh…”

The water submerged the wires and Duo turned the water off. He pointed at a switch built into the wall. Eko reached over and pressed it. A hum emanated from the water as electricity coursed through it, connecting the two wires. The display next to Duo lit up, showing a single word- start. Eko raised her hand before the screen.

“I’m going to press it. Are you ready, Ryota? Duo?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be!” Ryota said jovially, holding a candy in his hand.

“Not the most difficult puzzle in the world,” said Duo, looking at the tube in the middle of the room. “I wonder how the others fared.”

Eko pressed the button, and the pillar began to hum. The electricity running through the sink was turned off, as it wasn’t needed any longer. The display in the corner showing the green tube now had a blue progress bar slowly filling up, along with the outline of a person’s body. The door at the far end of the room unlocked with a click, sliding open.

“Let’s go!” said Ryota, and he ran toward the door.

“Just a second, Ryota,” Eko said. She sat down on one of the desks, facing Duo.

“Eh? What’s up? Shouldn’t we get out of here?”

Eko closed her eyes for a moment, putting together what she wanted to say. “Duo, earlier you said that… that Zero potentially deemed my knowledge of DNA as unimportant because you already had the puzzle solved.”

“I did,” he replied.

“How would Zero know that ahead of time?”

Duo stood up and leaned against the pillar, the light turning his lab coat a green hue. “People often assume that everything in the world goes by cause and effect. If you push a button, something happens because the button was pressed in the past. If you remember something, it’s because something happened in the past. Stuff to that effect.”

Ryota pulled his lollipop out of his mouth, a bemused expression on his face. “Uh… yeah? Isn’t that just common sense?”

“For most cases, yes. However, that doesn’t always hold true- especially not when it comes to the app. There are rules that can, theoretically, interrupt the flow of spacetime itself, that can transmit information to the future… or even the past.”

Eko gripped her shoulder. “When you say ‘especially not when it comes to the app,’ does that mean that it’s possible even without these… special abilities?”

Duo’s eyes drifted up and to the side. “Hm… that’s more open to speculation than anything. There were experiments involved with something called the ‘Morphogenetic Field’ much earlier, though the people responsible for that were arrested for violating human rights. Not that that last part is particularly relevant.”

A chill ran down Eko’s spine at the mention of the ‘Morphogenetic Field,’ though it was gone just as soon as it came. “What’s the Morphogenetic Field?”

Duo focused on her, looking slightly amused. “You don’t know? If I’m right about Zero, that means this is either of the least import… or the most. In any case, the simplest explanation would be that it’s an invisible field that contains and transmits information, all the while existing outside of spacetime. Theoretically, it’s possible to send information to the past or future using it.”

Ryota balked. “H-Hold on, what kind of information are we talking about here?”

Duo shrugged. “All of it. Information from the past, information from the future- even information from alternate timelines is theorized to be in it. If you could direct how some of that information flows, you could theoretically send it wherever and whenever you want, to whoever you want.”

“I see,” Eko said, nodding.

Ryota was shocked. “What!? You actually get this? I’m lost.” Eko shrugged apologetically at him.

“In any case,” Duo continued, “the important thing is to note that time isn’t as linear as you would think, especially when the app is in play. Or perhaps…” He trailed off, staring at nothing in particular.

“Perhaps?” asked Eko.

“...No, it’s nothing. Just remember that when ‘rules’ are involved, there are always many different possibilities. Until I have more data, I won’t say anything else.” He walked toward the door, calling over his shoulder, “You two coming?”

Ryota looked uncertainly at Eko, then the two of them followed Duo out the door. It was a relatively featureless room, with the exception of a short, dull red bus parked in front of a pitch black tunnel. They got on board, Eko sitting across from Duo, and Ryota sitting to the side of her. The driver’s seat was empty, but the bus started to move anyway.

_Must be automated._

“Y’know,” Ryota said, pulling out a bag of chips, “I wonder what that body is gonna look like.”

Duo looked out the window as the bus slowly drove through the tunnel, much like the one they had come to the lab in. “Who knows. Even if we knew what it looked like right now, if it became actually sentient, it’s possible we wouldn’t recognize it.”

Eko looked at the white haired kid. “What do you mean?”

Duo sighed and turned back to face her, looking bored. “I mentioned earlier that without a soul, it might as well be dead. Without one, it would just sit there, unable to do anything on its own. Sure, you could keep it alive, but without a soul, it won’t ever make its own memories. It won’t truly make its own decisions.”

“Yeah, I get that, but what do you mean we wouldn’t recognize it?”

Duo gestured at Eko. “You know, you’re actually a pretty good example, but I doubt you remember your own… condition. Long story short, your body has more than 23 different souls in it, and the reason you look the way you do is because of something to do with those souls. Whether you look like that because of some intervention or because of the combination inside you, it’s highly doubtful that you look anything like any specific one of your souls originally did. It’s honestly impressive that you’re not a vegetable right now.”

_...23 or… more? Why is the biggest mystery about all this… myself?_

“Then again, maybe your case is different. Your existence is something of an anomaly, so I’ll just use an easier example. You remember Ded from earlier?”

“The old guy who could change form?”

“That’s him. Think of what I’m saying like him. When one soul is dominant over the other, it can drastically change their appearance- especially if they’re a transient like he is. Or, like how you are as well.”

“So… I could transform like that too?”

Duo looked back out the window. “Not normally. If you’re not doing something like that right now, it seems unlikely for you to do it at all. If some other soul were to overpower yours, they’d have to be in you or get in you in the first place, and that’s not easy to do. Your other souls must have been suppressed somehow, so I doubt you’re going to have a problem with them, or... not right now.”

_Having your appearance change so drastically to where you’re unrecognizable. That sounds terrible…_

“Although,” Duo added as an afterthought, “I imagine if Ded’s souls were to be separated any more than they already have, that might have some very bad effects on both of their lives. Breaking a relationship like that can be as dangerous as making one in the first place.”

Ryota pointed out the window. “Not to interrupt this... nice little chat, but we’re here!”

The bus exited the tunnel into a small garage, pulling in next to two similar busses. With a heavy grinding noise, a metal grate covered the entrance to the tunnel, trapping them in there. The three of them hopped off the bus and headed to the exit, a single door on the opposite side of the room.

The room they walked into was hot and humid, filled with plants of various size, color, and shape. Eko could only assume that the place was a greenhouse. The three of them navigated through the plants until they came across the six they had met earlier, each of them standing by some large colored circles on the floor- green, blue, and red. Each circle had a bench in the middle of the same color. Eko looked down at her ring, seeing that it now had a single magenta band on it.

“Yooooo! What took you so long!? I swear, was about getting ready to kill someone.”

Benten ran up to Eko and held her hand out flat. Confused, Eko smacked it in a high five. She groaned and spun on the spot, her hand raised to her head. She then turned around faster than she had originally, a grin plastered on her face. “I wanted to see what your ring is like, but I like your style, Eko!”

“Hey, get over here, you punk rocker idiot! This is important- Ah. If it isn’t Eko.” Ded, his hair and suit dark, stepped over to the two of them. He clapped a hand on Benten’s shoulder. His ring matched Benten’s, having two bands of magenta.

Benten glared at him. “I will break those fingers.”

“I’d like to see you try,” retorted Ded.

“Why you- ack!” Benten snarled and lunged at Ded, only to be pulled back by Ahab.

The captain blew smoke out his nose as he berated the two of them. “Behave, brats! Good grief, we’ve been kidnapped and all ye’re going to do is fight? Hmph. Ta call ye wee brats would be like callin’ a baby an adult.” He was holding his pipe in his hand, a ring with two cyan bands gleaming on his finger.

Benten huffed and parked herself down on the blue bench.

Eko turned to the captain and asked, “Is she normally like this?”

Ahab took a drag on his pipe and sighed. “Aye, that’s Benten. She can be dependable when she ain’t bein’ so green.” They watched her make an extremely rude hand gesture at Ded. Ahab smirked. “But she still be a brat.”

Jambavan came up to the two of them, his face a little red as he avoided Ahab’s eye. “H-Hey, C-Captain! N-Nice to see you again, Eko. Do you mind if I see your rings?” The two of them raised their hands. Jambavan took notes of everyone, then gathered everyone together. 

Eko looked to Ahab, who had a subtle smirk on his face.

“What’s up with him?”

The old man’s neutral expression returned. “Ain’t got a clue, lass.”

Jambavan turned to the eight of them while rubbing the back of his head. “O-Ok, if I’m getting everything right, the magenta solo and duo are Eko, Ded, and Benten, the yellow solo and duo are Ryota, Nyarlathotep, and myself, and the cyan solo and duo are Duo, Christine, and t-the captain. Er… respectively.”

“Oho… why don’t we let the star of our little show decide?” Christine said, tapping her umbrella on the ground. “After all, you are the one with the greatest handicap of us all. Why, it’s only fair.”

_...Oh. She means me._

Eko looked around at everyone, put on the spot. “Er, I’m the star?”

Nyarlathotep cackled behind her. “Baby, baby, baby! This Zero pup sure seems to have a thing for you, can’t you tell? A classic middle school love letter, you gonna check yes, yes, or definitely? Why, you were the only one who got the brain zap! And that prideful star too. I’d say you’re more involved with this than any of us are…” His last words hung in the air as if he knew something the others did not- or could not.

“If you could stop being weird for a minute or so,” Duo said, “I could give Eko her options.”

“Oh yes, that reminds me,” said Ded, back to his white form. “Did you, perchance, get the ‘data’ you were looking for?”

Duo looked at Eko, then stared back at Ded, a bored expression spread across his face. “I got some data, yes. It’s far from conclusive though. If you want to know the details, ask her in your own time. Now, Eko.” He faced her and held up a finger. “The first option, go with Ahab and Christine. Your colors combined would make blue.” He held up a second finger. “Your other option, go with Nyarlathotep and Jambavan. Together, you would make red.”

“What about everyone else?”

Ryota laughed. “Don’t worry about us, Eko! We’ll just go off of what you give us, alright?”

_Ahab and Christine… or Nyarlathotep and Jambavan…_

She looked at the grumpy old captain.

_He seems really strict, though… he must know more about me, right?_

Then she looked at Christine.

_“Star of the show?” It sounds like she knows something. But… something about her makes me nervous._

She looked over at Nyarlathotep and Jambavan, the former leaning onto the latter.

_That bear might know something about my memory problem… and it sounds like Nyarlathotep might know a lot more about all of this than he lets on._

She made up her mind.

“I want to go with Nyarlathotep and Jambavan.” She felt a twinge of hurt at saying that, though she wasn’t sure why. Ahab turned his head so she could only see the scar over his right eye.

Christine chuckled and nodded. “I do believe you made the right choice. As for the supporting cast, take heed of your stage directions. The boy genius, the bringer of miracles, and the musical enchantress will take their places at the blue seat. Myself, the bringer of plenty, and… well now, I suppose that would be uncouth to reveal that just now. The captain, then. We will take our places on that emerald hue.”

“You heard the lady! What are we waiting for? Time’s a tickin!” Nyarlathotep said, then sat in the middle of the red bench, splaying his arms to the side. “Y’all know who she meant, right? Not a buncha soulless nitwits, are you?”

“Aye, we get it,” grumbled Ahab. He stomped over to the green bench and sat down on the side. Christine sat on the far right, leaving Ryota to squeeze in between them. On the blue bench, Ded, Benten, and Duo sat down.

“‘Musical enchantress’ eh? Now that sounds cool!” said Benten, flashing a rock symbol. Finally, Jambavan and Eko sat down on either side of Nyarlathotep, his arms reaching around both their shoulders.

“I-I like your flower, Eko,” stammered Jambavan.

For a moment, Eko had no idea what he was talking about. Then she remembered Ryota’s comment earlier. She reached into her hair and pulled down a flower. It was a red flower alright, though there was a slight bit of blue on the very end of one of the petals. Something about it felt off.

_What do I know? It’s not like I even remembered about it in the first place. Why do I keep feeling like this, anyway? I should ask him about it when I get the chance._

“Ah, thanks Jambavan.” She stuck it back in her hair as a click echoed from the circles they were on. Guardrails popped up around the edge of each, and the floor shifted beneath their feet. Then, it started to fall steadily, taking them down like an elevator. The hole above them, where the circles beneath them had once stood, closed up, enshrouding them in darkness. However, for the slightest second before they lost sight of the light above, Eko could have sworn that she saw a blue songbird flying away.

 


	3. Echoed Fragments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eko, Nyarlathotep, and Jambavan go through a movie theater, discovering a shocking secret.

_Such a cold day out!_

Ryusei chuckled, his hands shivering in his pockets. In front of him was the school that Captain Ahab worked at- a middle school, high school, and university all built into one. The day was almost done, and he wanted to see him. It wasn’t really anything specific, but Ryusei got the impression that he just... should. Chalking it up to his infatuation with the captain, he stepped into the building. He sighed contentedly and relaxed at the feeling of warm air.

“Hey, kid. You lost?”

Ryusei stopped and looked at the front desk. While there were normally a couple people- an attendant and perhaps a student talking with them- the only one there was a girl behind the desk that Ryusei had never met before. She had a large black flower adorning the side of her white hair, and her outfit had no sleeves- concerning, especially after being out in that freezing cold.

“Hey, you got hearing problems or something? Answer the question.”

“Did something happen to the old attendant?” He asked. “Who are you?”

“Well... I'm not Superman, that's for sure. And I'm not Batman, or Spiderman, or Aquaman, or a merman, or a wolfman. I'm not a brahman, or common, or ramen. I'm not a caiman either, so you don't really need to worry about anything,” she answered. “Not that who I am is very important. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, right! I’m here to see Captain-”

“Ahab? Big buffalo guy, right?”

“You know him?”

“Talks like ‘Aye, ye brat,’ right? Never met him.”

“What?”

“You’ve been here before, you can find him yourself. Stop bothering me.”

She waved him away and picked up a book titled something about a cat. Ryusei, thoroughly confused by this new girl, went right and headed down the hall along the way to Ahab’s office. Before he could get too far, he heard a familiar boisterous voice from behind him.

“Ah, if it isn’t one of my most shining treasures-! Though perhaps I shouldn’t say that around your beloved captain, eh?” Aegir clapped a large scaled hand on Ryusei’s shoulder. “And of course- that’ll be why you’re here in the first place, is it not? Such shining devotion! Truly, splendid!”

“Er... thanks, Aegir. The captain’s still here, right?”

“That, he most certainly is! He always leaves at around the same time, so, in all truth, you’re quite a bit early. In fact, most everyone has already headed home. Come, let me show you something I’ve been putting together!” He led Ryusei by the shoulder down one of the halls, bringing him who-knows-where. “We need to get everyone around for another party soon! I hope Ahab will let us use his boat again, though I’m sure we could make other arrangements if need be! How do you feel about a beach party?”

Ryusei eyed the locket that was resting on Aegir’s chest. “It’s still winter. Besides, you do remember the last party we had wasn’t that long ago, right?”

“What could be more fun than yet another party? Such a take on a beach party has so much potential, don’t you think? Come now. Don’t be a stranger, my taken treasure.”

“That’s a new one. Oh, speaking of a stranger- who was that back at the front desk?”

“The new girl? Don’t know her name, keeps dodging the question. She refuses to tell me anything about herself, but I do know she isn’t Superman or ramen. Weird girl, that one. I bet you that rambunctious Benten girl could be friends with her.” He laughed to himself and pulled Ryusei down an intersecting hallway. The sound of trickling water was echoing from a lobby on the other end of the hall.

Aegir sped up slightly, though not going too fast to outpace the smaller man beside him. “You see, I found this lovely treasure just off the bay of Tokyo itself. One fascinating tidbit about this is that, judging from the condition it was in, it’s fairly recent! Someone must have thrown it into the sea to dispose of it. Hah! No one knows the seas as I do, all its secrets are laid bare before me!”

They finally stepped into the room as Aegir bowed, presenting his so-called “treasure” before him with a small flourish. Attached to the wall was a stone fountain bearing statues of three different beastmen- a bull, a tiger, and a bird. Arcs of water were shooting out of their nipples, collecting into a pool beneath them. Aegir laughed, looking at the fountain with a gleam in his eyes.

“There’s just something about this, you see. While it appears quite comical, perhaps something right up your alley even, I can tell that there’s something… deeper to this. Some hidden mystery that has to do with... this fountain’s origin, or perhaps how it wound up where it was. Don’t you agree? ...Ryusei?”

Ryusei said nothing, but a cold feeling was slowly flooding through his body. His eyes widened as unbidden images flashed in his mind.

_This very fountain, polished and whole._

He reached out and touched the stone bull, feeling his body move as if under someone else’s control.

_Doors bearing blood-red numbers- 7, 5, 3, 6, and finally, a 0._

Ryusei’s breath caught in his chest, an unfamiliar and terrible pressure welling up in his heart.

_A wedding hall, petals descending down from the ceiling._

His legs collapsed beneath him, barely managing to catch his fall with his arms. His breathing was rapid and labored.

_A flash of light, a fine scarlet mist, the smell of smoke, the salty taste of tears._

Aegir was saying something, but all Ryusei could hear was a rush in his ears- his blood? Or perhaps something else. His arms slowly lost their strength, sending him lower and lower along the ground.

_Four familiar harpoons, arranged in a circle- slick with blood._

Ryusei felt his mouth open in a silent scream. Try as he might, he couldn’t make any noise.

_A hat, discarded beneath a bench. Ahab’s hat._

He fell completely to the floor, his hand clutching over his heart. He felt like he should be crying- but all he could do was stare forward like he was broken, shivering as if there were a cold breeze. After a few seconds that felt like hours, a dull ringing noise clarified into Aegir’s yells to him.

“Ryusei, can you hear me!?” Aegir turned him over, propping him up. Ryusei’s face was pale, his eyes wide with shock and fear. His skin was clammy and his arms trembled. “We’re going to the nurse’s office, they’ll have supplies-”

Ryusei feebly shook his head. “...N-No… I need…to see A-Ahab,” Ryusei muttered, and Aegir looked down at him.

“You need medical attention, Ryusei,” Aegir said seriously, looking around to see if there was anyone that could help. He relented at the weak, pleading look he had on his face. “Fine, I’ll leave you with him and go to the nurse’s office myself. You’re going to be alright, just hold on.” He carefully picked up Ryusei, carrying him in his arms. He ran as fast as he dared to with the boy in his current condition. It didn’t take very long for them to reach their destination, and Aegir burst into his office.

Ahab turned around in a huff. “What now, Aeg-” Ahab’s eye widened as he looked at the pathetic state of Ryusei, hanging in Aegir’s arms, limp and nearly lifeless. The guilty, worried expression Aegir had on his face did precious little to soothe the captain. His next words came out in a growl, low and threatening.

“What did ye do, Aegir.”

Aegir looked even more nervous than before as he carefully set down Ryusei in one of the chairs. “I don’t know what… what happened. I just- I need to go get-”

Faster than he had any right to be, the buffalo beastman rushed Aegir, pinning him against the wall with his left arm. The bowl of salt water taffy that had sat on his desk was knocked aside, crashing into pieces on the floor. In Ahab’s right hand was a knife, and his eye was filled with a madness Ryusei had only seen a few times before- the same madness that claims him when he talks about Moby Dick.

“Ack-! E-Easy there, Captain! He’s fine, I assure you! Please let me go-” Aegir said, struggling against Ahab. The buffalo man took in a large breath of air, filling his lungs as if he were about to yell at him with enough force to shake the building.

Before Ahab could let loose on Aegir, Ryusei mustered his strength and shakily reached out, grabbing hold of his shirt. “C-Captain-! Calm down! H-He didn’t do anything...” For a brief second, he didn’t seem to heed Ryusei’s words. Then, Ryusei said something else, something that stopped Ahab in his tracks.

“I-I think… it has to do with… with her, Captain.”

Ahab relaxed his grip on Aegir, who breathed a sigh of relief. The old man grunted and grabbed a broom from the corner of the room, sweeping up the shattered remains of the bowl.

“Ye can go, Aegir.” He paused then added, “...Sorry.”

“Huh? Hold on, who is ‘her?’ You don’t mean that weird girl in the lobby?” Ryusei just shook his head. “No? I… I see. Well, bring him around to the nurse's office as soon as you can. I’ll make up a hot drink- that’ll do good for his system.” He took off down the hall, his footsteps getting slightly faster as he got further away from Ahab’s office. The captain sighed as he kept sweeping up the broken glass.

“So then, sailor. Tell me what it is that happened.”

It took quite a lot of effort, but he managed to tell Ahab entirely what happened. While he was explaining, the old man finished cleaning up then stood in front of him attentively. He didn’t say anything until Ryusei had finished. By the time he had explained everything he had seen, though sparing the details of the bloody harpoons and lonesome hat, much of the color had returned to his cheeks. He was almost- though not quite- the same as he ever was.

“Hmph. Ye looked about on death’s door when that idiot brought ye in. I’m just glad ye’re unhurt.”

“Sorry, Captain. Although…” He trailed off and didn’t continue, running something through his head.

“...Although?”

Ryusei leaned back in his chair and stared at Ahab’s hat, which was set atop a book on his desk. “You know how I said it might have had to do with... her? It was just like that time during Christmas with the music box. It felt like… like someone’s memories. Or... maybe my own. I don’t know. It was like that but more…”

“More what? If ye got somethin’ ta say, spit it out.”

“Like… like my heart was ripping in two. At least with the music box, there was something happy behind the sadness, you know? This time it was just… despair. Nothing else.”

Ahab held his hand out to Ryusei, who tentatively grabbed it in his own. Ahab pulled him to his feet and embraced him in a hug. It didn’t last long, but by the end of it they were both smiling.

Ryusei breathed an exhausted sigh and leaned into Ahab, pressing his head against his chest. “Do you mind if I, er, if I could sleep aboard the ship tonight?”

Ahab scoffed. “Good grief. Don’t tell me this was another one of yer idiotic plans.”

“What do you mean idiotic- nevermind. I’ll sleep in one of the cabins if you want, but… it feels like some part of me is screaming out not to let you go by yourself-” He cut off as a thought popped into his head. He felt as if it weren’t his own, that someone put it there, and it chilled him to his very core.

_Not again._

The captain pushed Ryusei back into his chair and got back to packing up his bags for the day. Even with Ahab’s back to him, Ryusei could see his smile in the reflection of one of the ships-in-bottles adorning his bookshelves. “...Fine. Ye don’t have to leave me fer tonight. Now that ye look like ye’re feelin’ better, I’m sure I can put ye to work.” He turned around to see a weary smile on Ryusei’s face. Beyond that, though, there was another feeling. One of… deep, desolate loneliness. “Hm? What’s got ye down?”

Ryusei studied his face for a second. “I love you, Captain.”

Ahab blushed and chuckled, slinging his bag over his back. “Let’s go see if Aegir has that drink ready, ye wee brat... Hm?” He reached down and plucked something out of Ryusei’s hair. His expression darkened, staring at what he was now holding. There was something about it- something that he couldn’t quite place.

Between his fingers was a single bright blue petal.

//

Eko pressed her hands between her knees, staring up at the dark ceiling. Thoughts trickled through her mind as the elevator slowly descended.

_One room down, things aren’t too bad. Perhaps a little ominous, but so far this is nothing we can’t handle. But… how long will that last? And…_

She remembered back to the laboratory, where her, Duo, and Ryota had found that ID card. Kurashiki. Something about that name put a very odd feeling in her. It was weird not having memories to go off of. Maybe if she did, she could place it.

“Hey, Nyarlathotep? Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“They say it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, but you seem to have done both at once! Tricky, tricky. Tell ya what, I’ll give you another shot. Watcha want?”

Eko took a second to translate what he said. “Do you know anyone with the name ‘Kurashiki?’”

In the little light his tail provided, something about Nyarlathotep’s expression frightened her. His eyes bore into her as if he were staring into her very soul. Then, he cackled and turned away. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t! I’m afraid that’s something you’ll have to stitch together on your own, babe.” He leaned back, a smug and knowing grin barely visible on his face.

Jambavan scooted to the side, putting a few inches between himself and the multicolored hyena. “D-Did you remember something?”

“Not… really? I’m not sure, actually. Back in that room I went through with Ryota and Duo, we found someone’s ID. Most of it was covered by… by something. I could make out the name ‘Kurashiki’ on it.”

“Now tell me,” Nyarlathotep said, a paper and pen suddenly in his hands, “How did that make you feel?”

“I- er, I don’t know. I guess I felt… shocked? Maybe even a little angry, or… lonely?”

Nyarlathotep scribbled something down as Jambavan spoke up. “Maybe you knew whoever they were before you lost your memories? I don’t think the name is familiar, but… I don’t know…” He trailed off, evidently thinking about something. Nyarl tore off the page and stuffed it in his pocket, winking at Eko. The elevator slowed to a halt, lights illuminating their surroundings. There was a set of stairs and a red carpet leading to a fancy wooden door. Engraved on it was the number 5. The three of them got off the bench, Jambavan nearly tripping over his own feet.

“Ladies and gentlemen and everything in between, it’s time to sit back in our seats. The intermission… is over!” Nyarlathotep cackled, throwing the door open. They walked together into the chilly room. Once they passed the threshold of the door, it slammed shut behind them. Lights switched on along the walls, bathing the room in a warm glow.

The room was, from what Eko was pleased to remember, quite clearly a movie theater. There was a large white screen at the front of the room. At least for the moment, it was blank. The rest of the room looked exactly how she expected it to look- stairs leading to rows of dark red velvet seats, speakers along the wall, and a projector room at the very top. There was what appeared to be a sliding door at the top right corner of the room, but next to it was a card reader showing a red light. Eko could only assume that it was locked.

There was one last part of the room that was odd. Set apart from the rest of the chairs was a row of chairs numbered 1 through 9. Where the rest of the seats in the room were pristine, most of these chairs had all sorts of problems with them. The number 1 chair had a gaping hole through the back of it, and the right arm of it looked shattered. The number 3 chair had pieces precisely cut out of it, base and all. The number 4 chair looked as if it had been set on fire, while the fifth chair had the entire back of it ripped off. The seventh chair had large rips in its coverings, spilling the stuffing of it out into the open. Finally, the number 9 chair had been stripped entirely of its covering, leaving behind just the frame of the seat. The seats bearing the numbers 2, 6, and 8 were nearly identical to the others, though their coverings were scratched and faded. Eko stood in front of these seats, puzzled.

She jumped as Nyarlathotep came up behind her. For once, he didn’t say a word. The look in his eyes, however, was as if he had found the answer to something.

“Er, is something wrong?”

“Oh, yes. Something here is quite wrong,” he said, his tongue out hanging out of his mouth. “Two wrongs make a right, ain’t that right? How many wrongs are here, I wonder?”

Eko tore her gaze away from the seats. “...er, right.”

“Bingo!” Nyarlathotep cackled as he sat down in the number 6 seat. He crossed his legs and looked toward the blank screen. Eko turned away, ready to get started on solving the puzzle in this room. It was time to seek a way out.

The first thing she did was walk up the stairs to the door. It was not unlike an elevator’s, with two distinct parts created by a split down the middle. There weren’t any handles, nor were there any defining symbols on the door. To the right of it was a card reader glowing with a red light. A small screen, which Eko had missed earlier, read **locked**.

“T-That has to be the projection room, right?” Jambavan said, shuffling up to her. “I wonder why it’s locked…” He tapped the door awkwardly, causing absolutely nothing to happen. He sighed. “Hey, Eko? Do you mind if I ask you something?” He continued on as Eko stared at him, “Do you remember anything like, uh, movies? Or books? Or how about music?”

Eko thought for a minute, trying to remember anything about herself. “I… I’m sorry. I can’t remember any movies, books, music, not even a favorite game or joke. B-But hey, maybe that means I’ll just get to experience all that again, right?”

Jambavan’s mouth twitched in a slight smile, but he continued on. “Er, Duo said to ask you for details on what his ‘data’ was about, right? Could you tell me?”

Eko saw Nyarlathotep stand up and saunter over to them, but she relented, explaining to Jambavan the things that Duo had said. She explained how Zero potentially took out all the things that were necessary for her not to know while keeping in things she did. By the end of it, the bear was looking very worried.

“So… what you’re saying is Zero somehow got rid of anything you don’t need. Maybe… maybe that means that you not knowing those things is important to their plan? But then…”

Eko felt herself shiver slightly as if the room had suddenly gotten a degree cooler. “What’s wrong? I know it’s kinda crazy, but if we take what he said at face value… I mean… he could be right, couldn’t he?”

Jambavan looked nervously at Nyarlathotep, who had been watching them with a smug grin for the entire exchange. “It’s just… It sounds reasonable, but what it implies is… scary, really.”

Nyarlathotep sprang up behind the bear and wrapped his glowing tail around his waist. “Come on, don’t be shy! Say what’s on your mind, the whole world is dying to know!”

Jambavan blushed and stepped away from him and his tail. “W-What? What do you mean the… the whole world?” Nyarlathotep just smirked. “Uh, ok... I guess. The thing is, if that’s right, that means that Zero removed all of your personal information. Every one of your personal experiences, of your bonds with others, he removed them. A-At least to me, that doesn’t sound like just… because you ‘didn’t need it.’ It’s more like…” His voice shook slightly as he finished, “...like it’s important that you don’t remember anything. I don’t know what Zero wants, but everything sorta suggests that they want you to be as, uh, ‘blank’ as possible.”

“I’m not sure I follow,” said Eko.

“Your amnesia is, well, really weird, considering what you do and don’t remember. It doesn’t seem like generalized amnesia to me. If that were the case, I think you would have remembered something definite by now. Though… you did say you felt something about that name, didn’t you…? Even so, that’s not anything, uh, definite, like I said. When it comes to that whole ‘Santa’ thing, that’s just weird. Only having partial information in such a specific way? What Duo said honestly makes the most sense to me. If I had to guess, I think you were probably affected by some sort of… memory-affecting rule. If Zero has the ability to pick and choose what memories you keep, that would explain a lot. Though… I wonder why he’d strip you of everything personal…”

Nyarlathotep’s laugh broke the conversation up. “Such intrigue, such a mystery! Before you two get too far down this rabbit hole, you’ll want to put all three of your heads to use. If it’s answers you want… I think papa Zero has some in store.” He smirked and walked off, whistling something.

Eko sighed. “I'm really not sure how to feel about him.”

Jambavan shrugged nervously. “Al- er, a friend of mine talks something like him. You get used to it, for better or for worse. It’s kinda hard to tell what they’re thinking when they talk like that though...”

The two of them got back to work scouring the room. Under closer inspection, the rows of chairs were in a pattern- 6 rows, and 9 chairs to each row. Each of the rows going up was assigned a letter, with the row closest to the screen having the letter A and the row closest to the projection room bearing the letter F. Each of the chairs in the first row bore a number 1 through 9. The floor between the rows was littered with various pieces of garbage- a paper cup, an empty popcorn basket, and some large wrappers for something that made Jambavan’s face bright red. He wouldn’t tell her what they were though, so she discarded them. Inside the drink cup, however, she found a small yellow ticket. Crumpled up in the seat holder of the second chair on the first row was yet another.

“Do you know what these mean?” Eko asked, holding out a ticket to Jambavan, who grabbed it and took a look. She held the other out to Nyarlathotep, but he just looked at her. “Nyarlathotep?” He stuck out his tongue. At the end of it was the third ticket, bearing the number **109**. He flashed a grin at her and swallowed the entire thing. “W- Huh? Why-”

“Relaaaaax, homeslice.” He tapped her head, grinning. “This old dog knows a few tricks!” He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and wrote the number 109 on it, then stuffed it into his pocket. “This means more to me than it does to you, but I never forget. Let’s get our party started, little miss Alamo!”

_Little what?_

Eko looked over at Jambavan, who was examining his own ticket. It had the number **122** on it. Looking closer at her own, Eko saw that it read **Seat Number 159**. There was nothing else on the ticket- not a single other word or picture.

The bear spoke up, holding his ticket between his large fuzzy hands. “Not to say the obvious, but… there aren’t enough seats for this, are there? There are only, er, 54 seats... right?” He looked back over the seats, nodded, and turned back to them. “How are we supposed to find the right seat? M-Maybe these are just pointless.”

“Blew your load a little quickly there! It’s ok, happens to the best of us,” Nyarlathotep cackled and patted his shoulder. “If you count those tragic seats up there, that’d make it 63. That’s about as important as… oh, why spoil the fun now?”

Jambavan’s face was bright red from the beginning of Nyarlathotep's comment. “W-What? N-No I… do you know s-something?”

“Honeybear, I know _everything_. Or near enough to it.” He flashed a wide grin at them. “Ah, I’ll throw you two a bone bigger than the king! You ever hear of hexadecimal?”

“Ah!” Jambavan gasped.

“Oh, Duo mentioned something about that earlier. He didn’t really explain it, though.”

Nyarlathotep handed the bear a paper and a pen. “Now’s your chance, try not to disappoint, furry ears.”

“Uh… ok, how do I explain this?” He wrote down the numbers 0 through 9 at the top of the paper. “So, the normal counting system we usually use is called decimal, right? It’s, uh, a base-10 system. We use 10 numbers, 0 through 9, to describe something. Hexadecimal is also called base-16, because in addition to 0 through 9, it also uses the letters A through F as, uh, digits. So instead of moving on to 10, you would go 7, 8, 9, A, B… and so on, then once you reach F, the next number adds to the tens digit. So it’d go F… and then 10.” He said all this while writing it out. “Then past 10 you’d keep going until you reach 19, then go ‘1A, 1B…’ you know, like that. Technically, that 1A is actually the, uh... 26th number-? Yeah. Er, in the sequence, so if you converted it to normal decimal, 1A would become 26. Oh, and when you get past 9F it goes to A0. It sounds kinda complicated, but I hear it’s pretty easy once you practice with it.”

Eko nodded. “These chairs and rows go from A to F… I see. So when we convert these ticket numbers to normal decimal, it’ll give us our seat coordinates.” She leaned back against the wall, her arms crossed as she thought.

_109, 122, and 159. If 10 is 16, 20 is 32… 40 is 64… 50, 80… 60, 96…_

She opened her eyes again to see Jambavan writing down a long string of numbers. “I think… Nyarlathotep’s ticket is 6D, your ticket is 7A, and mine is 9F.”

“Bingo!” Nyarlathotep cackled, and he sat down on the sixth chair in row D. It dipped down slightly.

“Gee Eko, you’re really fast,” Jambavan said as he took a seat on the seventh chair in row A.

Eko started to reply, a red tint to her cheeks, when Nyarlathotep laughed once again. “It’s a good thing! When you don’t remember jack, learning fast must be great. Gotta be open to learning new things. Experiment a little, babe!”

Whatever had been going through Eko’s mind blipped out of existence when Nyarlathotep opened his mouth. She went and took a seat on the last chair of the last row, right next to the door. As soon as she did, there was a click and something fell from the roof down onto the floor in front of the door. It was a black key card with a large, red number 0 on it. Other than that, there weren’t any notable features about it.

The other two met her outside the door. Eko glanced at the two of them before sliding the key into the scanner. The light turned green, and the doors slid open. The room beyond was messy, filled with cabinets, boxes, and a single filing cabinet, which was locked. The projecting machine laid dormant, a screen attached to it lit up with a keypad. Nyarlathotep squatted down in the corner of the room, twirling a pen between his fingers.

Jambavan opened up one of the boxes and looked inside. Then he opened another box. He pulled out a blue drink labeled _Blue Bird_ , made a confused grunting noise, and put it back.

Eko came up behind him. “What’s wrong?”

Jambavan opened up another box and pulled out a few oddly shaped pieces of metal- one was a star, the second was a circle, and the third was a rectangle. “Hmm… I dunno, Eko. This stuff doesn’t look like it… fits in. You know? I-It’s more like storage for something or… or something.”

“That right?” asked Nyarlathotep, his tail now twirling several different pens in the same way he was a moment ago.

Eko looked around the room, sighed, and got to work. Just as Jambavan had said, there was an odd disconnect between the stuff in the boxes and the whole “theme” of everything. While the room was like a movie theater, the stuff in these boxes had nothing to do with that. There were different colored drinks, an inflatable beach ball, a set of oddly mismatched screwdrivers, a painting with some numbers on it, and a whole load of other stuff. One of the boxes even had a bunch of paper cups. She reached in and pulled out a cup that was bent slightly like it had been thrown at something.

She looked up as Nyarlathotep started cackling again. “Y’know, you really should smile like that more often! You never know when things go wrong and mess up that pretty face.”

She hadn’t even noticed that she was smiling. Blushing, she set the cup back down in the box. Looking around the room, she noticed that the boxes were laid out haphazardly- one of them was even tipped onto its side, spilling out a small pile of white flowers.

_It’s like someone- Zero put them here after finishing the puzzle._

Abandoning that thought, she set about examining the rest of the room. The cabinets were empty of anything except a single key. Eko walked over to the filing cabinet and unlocked it. The first drawer- empty, though there were odd slits along the bottom of it. In the second drawer, there was a single manila folder. Eko pulled it out and flipped it open, causing a few pieces of paper to fall to the floor. She stooped over to pick it up, while Jambavan kept rifling through the boxes to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

The first piece of paper she picked up was some sort of reflective paper. She set it aside for now. The second paper was a scuffed up paper with someone’s handwriting on it. Eko felt a jolt pass her spine as she got past the first sentences. Her voice wavered as she said it out loud.

“‘Welcome to the Nonary game. In this game, you will all be working to reach the end of this series of ‘puzzles.’ Attached to your right arm is a ‘bracelet’ sacred... artifact…’” She looked down at her right arm, devoid of any bracelet. Her head buzzed with an idea as she read over the rest of the paper silently.

_...I eagerly await the gripping conclusion to this game. Try not to keep me waiting…_

_-Zero_

“What’s that?” asked Jambavan.

“I’m… I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just an early draft of… something? Maybe Zero’s methods changed.”

“Wouldn’t that be pretty!” laughed Nyarlathotep. “Maybe our darling Junebug's methods changed… or maybe not.” He was juggling four different pens using his tail, seemingly unaware of what he was even doing.

_Junebug?_

She picked up the last paper, a diagram of some sort. There were 9 circles- 8 of them surrounding one in the center. Lines stretched from the center circle out to each of the outer ones, and each of those connected to another in pairs- one pair at the top right, one pair at the bottom right, one more at the bottom left, and a final one at the top left. There were no names, nothing with which to tell who they were. The one in the very middle was scratched out so severely that the only thing she could make out was a single, bright blue flower. While she didn’t recognize most of the portraits, she knew who two of them were immediately.

_W-What!?_

“Nyarl-!” Eko gasped in shock.

“What a wacky chain we’ve got here! It looks like I’m about out of tricks up all of my sleeves…” Nyarlathotep finished this, goading Eko to say something.

Jambavan looked down at the paper, then back at the hyena. “H-Hey, why are you on this?”

“I think… I know why,” Eko said, looking from the diagram to the note from Zero. “This whole time, you’ve been hinting that you know what’s happening, haven’t you? This is why, isn’t it?”

The bear looked from Eko’s serious expression to Nyarlathotep’s smirk. “What happened?”

Eko drew a deep breath. “This isn’t the first Nonary game, is it? You, Captain Ahab, and the rest of these people went through something like this, didn’t you?”

Jambavan looked down at the sheet and a nervous smile grew on his face. “N-Nah, that’d be ridiculous. Al- er, someone I know is on there, and she never told me anything like this happened.” He then muttered, “But what’s he doing there next to her…?”

Nyarlathotep stood up, his tail hands clapping slowly. “This is still a minty fresh new experience for me, fuzzball.” His face then widened in a sadistic toothy grin. “But that isn’t to say it hasn’t happened before~”

Eko picked up the small pile of papers and stood up. “So… do you know why we’re here?”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. If you want something more definite… why not finish the puzzle? I’m sure I’ll be able to tell you all something once we meet up again. Besides, you’re almost done.” He cackled and left the room, patting Eko as he passed.

“...I don’t get it,” complained Jambavan, sitting down in a chair by the projector. “If he’s not lying about it, why wouldn’t she remember?” Eko shrugged and pulled out the reflective sheet of paper.

_For that matter, Captain Ahab didn’t let on that he remembered anything like this._

She opened up the third drawer and withdrew the contents- a single flash drive, not unlike the one they had plugged into the reactor. She then closed it shut. She opened up the top drawer of the file cabinet and fit the reflective sheet of paper into the slots. It reflected the roof of the cabinet, showing **E7** on the sheet. She handed the drive to Jambavan and leaned forward on the filing cabinet, thinking.

_E7, I bet that’s in base-16. So then… if 9F was 159…_

She thought for about a minute, then stepped away from the filing cabinet. “The number that this thing shows, E7... that’s 231 in decimal, right? Is that the password?”

Jambavan typed it in, then rolled back slightly. “N-No, I think this has 4 digits in it. Do you, uh... know what else could we do with that?”

Eko absentmindedly felt the lollipop in her pocket. “Stay here. I have an idea.” She left the room and walked down to the 9 out of place chairs. Nyarlathotep was standing in front of the number 9 chair with a rather curious expression on his face. It was like exhilaration mixed with something more bittersweet. When he saw Eko looking at him, he regained his usual cocky grin.

“Heya sunshine. Don’t let me stop you now, things might get a little frisky if you do~”

“Uh, I guess I won’t then.” She stepped in front of the first few chairs and tapped the number 2 embossed on the seat. Just as she thought, it dipped in slightly. She pressed the three, and then the 1. Just as soon as she pressed in the 1, the projector came to life. Rather than show a movie, it instead projected numbers onto the screen- 1625. She turned to see Nyarlathotep smirk at the screen. When Eko turned around to head back up to the projector room, she heard him call out from behind her.

“You’ll find all the answers you’re looking for, don’t worry about that. Whether you want them or not… that’s a different case altogether. Hah! I can picture your face right now!” He cackled, trailing off as Eko entered the projector room.

“Hey, Eko! You ready?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

He looked concerned as he plugged in the password. “Are you alright? Did he say something?”

“N- well, yeah.” She sighed. “I hope we get some answers out of him once we’re done.”

“Haha, yeah. It’s kinda difficult to get answers out of people who talk like, er, that .” And with that, he pressed enter on the keypad. A small jingle played, and the lights began to dim. “I think it’s gonna play something. Let’s go see, yeah?”

Jambavan left the room. Eko made to follow, but her eyes were drawn back to that diagram and note that had fallen out of the envelope. She grabbed hold of them and took another look. She focused on Ahab’s portrait.

_Does he know something? Benten knows him, that’s for sure, and she didn’t think he’s acting out of the ordinary… or at least, she didn’t let on anything like that. I wonder if… maybe he was affected by the same thing I was? But then, why would Nyarlathotep remember?_

She sighed and folded them up, putting them in her pocket next to her still-new lollipop from Ryota. She then left the room and followed Jambavan, taking a seat next to him in the front row. Nyarlathotep was nowhere to be found.

“Hey,” Eko asked Jambavan, “where’d he go?”

“He said something about, er, ‘taking a leak’ and left somewhere over there.” He pointed to a staircase leading down that she hadn’t seen earlier.

“Not that I need to know right now, but does this place have bathrooms?”

“Er… not as far as I know? Some of us went back in that garden before you showed up. It got a little awkward… heck, I got an eyeful of that captain guy, jeez he’s-”

He shut his mouth, looking back at the projector to avoid making eye contact.

“Um… he’s what?”

Jambavan stifled a cough, his cheeks visibly red even as the lights dimmed. “N-Nothing! Uh… t-the movie’s about to start, I think.” 

The two of them stopped chatting as the screen changed. It lit up, showing the walls surrounding Tokyo. A cool female voice played over it as narration.

“In a not-too-distant past, the world and all its many timelines shared an identical fate- to be razed to the ground by ‘supreme beings-’ by the ‘pillars’ of other worlds.”

The was a blast of fire, and the walls of Tokyo- and the entire city itself- was destroyed in a heartbeat. It zoomed out, beyond the walls, and the rest of the world was lit up by fire. Dark shadows flickered across the scorched land- but then a wave of bright blue light spread across the land. Trees rooted themselves and sprung back up from the ground, the waters turned clear and pristine, and the demolished walls rebuilt themselves.

“This... is not your fault. Nor is it truly your burden alone to bear. However… this is my responsibility. I alone know how to make it right… and you, together, will save us all.”

The screen went dark.

Jambavan unclenched his hands from the seat. “W-Well, that was dramatic. I wonder who the narrator is. Zero? If it is, why put us in a d-death game?”

“I don’t know... Why take my memories away?”

_“You, together, are the ones who will save us.” Is that the nine of us? What about the other seven from that other game? What did any of that... mean?_

Before the two of them could stand up, the projector came back to life with a loud buzz. A gas mask filled the entire screen, and the music that had been present ceased immediately.

_Zero._

Their warbled voice blared out from the speakers. “Good. You all finished around the same time. I expected nothing less. Regardless of what ‘rooms’ you went through, this video was planted so all eight of you would see it. This is an example of what is at stake. Do not defy me, lest you suffer the consequences.” With that, the projector shut off.

Eko stood up, Jambavan close behind her. “That’s bad.”

“Y-You think?”

Eko turned and ran sharply toward the staircase. Jambavan, nearly tripping over himself, followed behind. Down the stairs was an open door leading into a long, artificial hallway. The two of them ran along, Jambavan’s coat flying behind him.

“Eko-! W-What’s wrong?”

She looked down at her ring. It had two magenta bands, one more than the single magenta band she had started that room with. “Zero said something- something worrying. I think… something intentional.” She kept her eyes ahead of her, determined to get to wherever Nyarlathotep had gone. She could hear Jambavan running behind her, though he was clearly not in the best shape.

“W-What… What did… Zero say?”

“He said that video, the one about Tokyo, was planted so all eight of us could see it. That means one of two things. One- Zero is somehow one of us and wasn’t including himself. Two- he knows Nyarlathotep left.”

“O-Oh... I-I’m sure he’s fine! Can we… slow down?”

They reached the door at the end and burst into it, Jambavan flopping down onto the floor, breathing hard. Eko panted and looked around. It was a wide, circular room neatly devoid of furniture. There were a few pillars holding up the ceiling, and there was a set of three doors- elevators, from the looks of them. Each of them was painted a different color- red, blue, and green. None of that, however, was the most interesting part of the room. Ahead of her, spanning a large chunk of the entire wall, was a window. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Judging by a fish that swam by, it must have been the window to a tank one would find inside an aquarium.

_It’s… a dead end?_

Eko turned around, looking for any sign of Nyarlathotep. There was none whatsoever.

_Why did we let him go off by himself- and what was he thinking!?_

“Good grief, brat. What be troublin’ ye?”

She turned around sharply at the sound of a familiar gruff voice. Captain Ahab, followed by the other 5, entered through the same hallway she had run through- she remembered seeing some other doors along the way, though they didn’t have any handles and didn’t open when she got near them. Jambavan was up now, but he was still catching his breath. Nyarlathotep did not rank among their numbers.

“Hold on a minute, where’s that insane DJ? What’s his name- Nyarlathotep?” asked Benten.

“...Ah.” Duo looked from Eko to Jambavan. “Zero did say the eight of us. They must have known he went somewhere, am I correct? ...Unless he’s Zero, I suppose.”

Jambavan laid on his back, his chest rising up and down. “Y-Yeah, he said he needed to, er, use the bathroom. We haven’t seen him since.”

“Well, that can hardly be good,” said Ded, his beard white as snow. “If we haven’t seen him now, I wonder where he could have gone?”

“How about… as for the moment, let us discuss these glittering trinkets,” Christine said, holding out her hand. Her ring had a single magenta band.

Ryota looked worriedly at Eko, who was still looking around the room for Nyarlathotep. “A-Are you sure? Don’t we need him to tell what his ring is?”

“Process of elimination,” Duo said, looking around at all of them. “From what I’ve seen, Ahab is a cyan solo, Benten is a magenta solo, and I am the yellow solo. The cyan duo is Ryota and Jambavan, the magenta duo is Eko and Ded, while the yellow duo is Christine and our missing DJ. Am I correct?” Everyone double checked their rings and confirmed him, either by some hand gesture or out loud. “Good. While he’s gone, we should mention which ways we can split up now.”

“Eh? Shouldn’t he get a say in where we go?” Ryota balked.

“Wherever he is, he’s holding us up. He can go with whatever we pick. The options we have here are that Benten, Christine, and Nyarlathotep go through the red door, Ahab, Eko, and Ded go through the blue door, while Jambavan, Ryota, and I go through the green door. The other option is that I go with Eko and Ded through the red door, Benten, Ryota, and Jambavan go through the blue door, while Christine, Nyarlathotep, and Ahab go through the green door. Think them over.”

“Hmph. I’m sick o’ dancin’ to Zero’s tune,” Ahab grunted and walked off to go stare through the glass. Unable to actually continue on without Nyarlathotep, they stood around. Waiting. In searching for more clues on Nyarlathotep’s whereabouts, Eko had small conversations with each of the others.

Ryota and Duo were talking to each other when she came over. “Oh, hey Eko! Have you found anything to do with him yet?”

Eko shook her head. “Nope. I’m getting a little worried, actually. He said he had some information for when we next meet but…“

Duo’s eyebrows perked up. “What sort of information?”

“Oh yeah, something to do with this,” Eko said and pulled out the sheets she had brought from the projection room. Both of their eyes widened as they read the papers, then had a double take as they looked at the diagram.

Duo muttered, “Why is he…? He would have told me, wouldn’t he...?”

Ryota looked from Eko back to the paper. “What’s Shiro doing on this?”

Eko frowned, remembering that Ryota had mentioned him earlier. “Which one is Shiro?”

Ryota pointed to a square-faced boy with glasses, a very stern expression on his face. He was connected to someone who looked like a dog transient. “That’s Shiro, he’s our friend and… he’s a little bit of a massive nerd, though you two get along pretty well!”

“My annoying brother is there too,” said Duo, pointing to a man with white hair and a smug expression. He was connected to a lady with blue hair and horns. “Nyarlathotep and Ahab too…? Interesting. I got the impression Nyarlathotep knew more than he let on, but it feels to me that Ahab doesn’t remember anything about this, assuming it’s even real. Let’s try and go with the first option I presented. That’s the only way for one of us to get any good information out of Ahab. I doubt he’ll open up that much when in a large group, and if he goes with Nyarlathotep and Christine... well, I really doubt we’ll get anything out of it.”

The next person she talked to was Christine, though it was more that she sought Eko out than the other way around.

“Well? Have you found any clues relating to our flamboyant compatriot's disappearance?”

Eko shook her head. “No, sorry.”

“Pay it no mind. A clue shows itself only when it is necessary. There may be foreshadowing or hints toward the clue itself, but the revelation is only when the time is nigh.”

“...Right. Oh, didn’t you and him know each other before coming here?”

“Yes, we were accomplices on our stage… that is to say, the stage that is the world.”

“Do you know anything about a… past nonary game?”

The smile on her face remained the same as it ever was, but she said not a word. This silence meant volumes to Eko. When she next spoke, it was precise- as if she were choosing her words very carefully.

“Understand this- I am not Zero, nor do I know who they may be. To say I have no knowledge over what happened in the past would be a flimsy lie, but what I do know is limited to the fact that it did transpire.”

Eko took a step back. “Does Nyarlathotep really know what happened? Was he really… there?”

She chuckled lightly. “What you ask- they are not as together as you may be inclined to think. I believe, however, that he was present and knows most everything that occurred.” She then walked away, waving elegantly over her shoulder.

“Christine, wait!”

She just kept walking away, a soft laugh drifting into Eko’s ears.

Benten and Ded were next, engaged in a serious game of thumb wrestling. At the moment, Benten seemed to have black Ded on the ropes. She had his thumb under her own, and the light of victory was gleaming in her eyes.

_She’s still kinda scary._

Then, Ded changed form into his white form. His hand changed size, gaining more pudge and throwing off Benten’s grip. Then, he changed back into his black form, giving him the strength to pin down her thumb and seize victory.

Benten jumped to her feet. “You bastard! That was a dirty trick!”

Ded scoffed and popped a cigar into his mouth. “Heh. You gotta use the tools you’re given.”

“I’ll show you the tools I’ve been given!” Benten yelled, then swung her biwa at Ded. Seeing this coming a mile away, he ducked out of its path. Eko, however, was in the direct line of fire. Things got darker- like she had tunnel vision- and the sound of the others lowered as if pressed by a mute. Without thinking about what she was doing, she lunged forward and stopped it with one hand, a dull think resonating from the instrument.

Eko’s vision and hearing returned to normal. Benten put her biwa back onto her back and gawked. “Eko, are you- How did you stop that one-handed? Does losing your memories give you super strength? That’d be seriously cool.”

Eko rubbed the back of her head, which was aching slightly. “Haha… I don’t think it did? I probably just got lucky or… or something.”

Benten sighed. “Gah, probably. Whatever! That was still cool! I bet we’d get loads of clout if we posted something like that on the web.”

The whole time, Ded just stood there as if a conversation was going on inside his head. He was staring intently at Eko, frowning.

“Ded? Are you ok?”

He realized what he was doing and looked off to the side. “Yeah. I’m fine, just thought I saw something. It’s nothing.”

Having exhausted her options, she resorted to waiting with the rest, thinking in front of the window.

_All that hexadecimal stuff in that last room… and that thing Duo typed in beforehand. What was it, 11315B1? He put in 5 digits…_

She ran through the potential ways that could be split up, settling on 1, 13, 15, B, and 1.

_If I translate all that to base-16, that’s 1, 19, 21, 11, and 1. If I treat those like the alphabet that makes…_

“‘Hoy there, sailor. Ye holding up?”

She jumped and turned to see captain Ahab standing to the right of her, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… worried about where Nyarlathotep went, that’s all.”

He puffed on his pipe. “That so? Well, shouldn’t ye be more worried about the rest o’ us? If he don’t bother ta come back...”

Eko stared blankly out into the water, watching fish swim by.

_We’d be stuck here… forever, wouldn’t we? I just wish I knew where ‘here’ is._

She sighed. “You’re right. I still… I don’t know many people, y’know?”

Ahab took out the pipe and blew out some smoke. “I see. Even when ye don’t know ‘em well, it can hurt ta sever a bond so… permanently.” A dark shadow seemed to pass over his eyes, the shadow of some memory he had. “Aye, let’s hope he comes back then.”

In the reflection of the glass, she saw something- something she had missed. It was a scrunched up paper, the same one that Nyarlathotep and written down on earlier. She reached down and picked it up. She unraveled the paper, reading the words as she got to something hard that was encased inside it.

**The world has forgotten**

**The world shall remember**

**The pillar between time crumbles**

**The bluebird is waiting**

_What? The… “pillar between time?” What’s with this “Bluebird?”_

She finished unraveling the paper. Inside was a ring- one with two yellow bands. Eko’s hair stood on end as she saw two needles protruding from the inside of the ring, each of them coated with a small amount of blood and the faintest amount of dark blue fur. A shadow passed over her. Ahab’s tail, which had been swishing side to side, froze. She looked over to him. His eye was wide and fixed on something out the window, his pipe starting to fall from his open mouth as if in slow motion. Her eyes shaking slightly, she turned her head slowly to see what he was looking at.

Nyarlathotep’s lifeless body was floating by the window.

One by one, each and every one of them realized what was happening as his body drifted cruelly by. With each passing second, Eko felt her heart sink lower and lower. Her knees started to shake.

_N-No… He can’t be… How could this... happen…?_

A small trickle of blood flowed out from his finger, dissipating into the water. He didn’t move, not even a little. His tails were still and lacking their orange hue. his leather jacket was still and dark, and his bright green hair gently rippled away from him in the water. And yet, Eko knew. That was Nyarlathotep- and he was dead.

Eko heard nothing- it was like everything had ceased making noise altogether. A scream left her as she rushed forward. She was yelling something, something that she didn’t recognize.

_Role of the wanderer_

_Rule of rending_

_Engrave my name-_

**Slam**

Something collided with her full force, sending her to the ground. Suddenly, her ears were awash in noise. The others were yelling and screaming. Ryota and Jambavan were yelling something about Nyarlathotep. The blood drained from Duo’s face as he rubbed the yellow ring on his finger. From where she was on the floor, she couldn’t make out the rest of them. She felt a large, heavy weight get off of her with a grunt, and he helped her to her feet. Captain Ahab was looking at her with a furious expression.

“What’re ye thinkin’, brat!?”

At first, she was confused. Then, she looked in her left hand. There was a sword, the likes of which she had never- at least not in her limited memory- seen before. She held it up, examining the unfamiliar weapon.

“W-What is… this?” Eko gasped. The handle of the sword was clammy with her sweat.

Duo’s eyebrows raised against his pale face. “You… remembered your role and rule? Did anyone tell you what they were?”

“N-No? What… what was I going to do?”

Ahab blew smoke out his nose. “Had I not stopped ye, ye would’ve cut this glass wide open! What’s gotten into ye!?”

Benten’s face was pale as she interrupted Ahab. “C-Captain, you can’t blame her, can you? I mean… he was… his ring…” She trailed off as she held up the double banded yellow ring that belonged to Nyarlathotep.

He held his pipe in one hand as he looked back toward the window. “The Eko that was part o’ me crew never would’ve done somethin’ so brash and idiotic.”

Ryota came to her defense this time. “B-But she doesn’t have her memories! Maybe she’s just acting differently because of that-”

“No,” Ahab interrupted. “This was different. Ye saw it too, didn’t ye?” He said this while looking at Ded, who had been staring at nothing in particular the entire time.

He switched to his white form. “...How dreadful.” He held up his finger, looking at the ring that each of them now knew was deadly beyond a shadow of a doubt. “Yes. I saw what you’re talking about… Twice now, in fact. If you don’t mind, Captain, I think perhaps we should talk to Eko about this… alone. For her sake.”

Eko’s eyes were wide and she was forgetting to blink, fidgeting as she kept having to stop herself from looking at the window. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have- I didn’t know I could-”

Ahab sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s… let’s keep goin’. Careful now, lass.”

She let herself be led away toward the blue elevator, Ded following close behind.

“Eko…” Ryota said, tears in his eyes. He sidled over to the green elevator with Duo and Jambavan, the former looking away from everyone else, while the latter was crying silently.

“Goodbye… my friend,” said Christine sadly, and she stepped aboard the red elevator with Benten, whose face was white as a sheet. The blue haired rocker was still clutching Nyarlathotep’s ring.

Nyarlathotep’s face flashed in Eko’s mind, as well as all the things he had said. He knew more about this game than anyone else, she was sure of that.

_Why did he die… and how did he die? What was up with that note, and why was his ring separate from him? Did Zero do that? Or… was that him, himself? Why did… why did Zero…_

The elevators shut, bathing the cramped room with a blue tinted light. She put the paper that had been around his ring into her pocket, brushing against the lollipop Ryota had given her. As the elevator rode down, Ahab and Ded giving her suspicious and pitiful glances, she couldn’t shake off a certain thought. Somehow, that bizarre DJ had known what was going to happen from the moment he set foot in this place.


	4. For Whom the Bell Tolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Ahab and Ded bring Eko through the belfry. Together, they're getting closer to the meaning behind all this.

_Forget me... my cute sailor._

Ahab’s eye shot open. Wiping his sweaty brow, he sat up on the edge of his bed and looked around the room. It was the same room he always woke up in- well, nearly always. Pushing that aside, his personal cabin didn’t have too much in it except his bed, his chair, a decently sized collection of various drinks, a small pile of books, and a large barrel with a hole cut out of it. He rubbed his eye and shook Ryusei, who was still sleeping behind him.

“Mornin’, brat. Get up.”

Without waiting for an answer, Ahab got up and took a cold shower. As the water caressed his head, he thought about the dream he was having before he woke up. He didn’t usually remember his dreams, and even now his memory was hazy. He racked his brain, trying to recall any details he could. All he could remember was a sharp pain on his right wrist. He looked down, wiping away the water that was wetting his fur. Sure there were scars, but it didn’t hurt. He certainly didn’t have any current wounds.

He let out a deep sigh, dried himself off, and got dressed for his job at the school. Much to Ahab’s irritation, Ryusei still sleeping. He pulled the covers off of him, then drew back from the wave of heat. His face was pale and slick with sweat, and his breaths were fast.

“Good grief. I didn’t heat ye up too much, did I? Here, drink,” he said, handing him a bottle of water.

Ryusei opened his eyes, sat up, and took the bottle. He downed the whole thing, then laid back down again. “Haha… G-Good morning, Captain. You’re lookin’ extra hot today-”

“Ye’re burnin’ up, so stop tryin’ ta make a move,” Ahab grunted, and he felt Ryusei’s forehead. “Ye must be sick. Stay here and rest… I’ll bring ye some medicine on me way back.” He stood up, but Ryusei grabbed hold of his pants leg.

“Please don’t go…”

Ahab sighed and tousled Ryusei’s hair. “Have to. Good grief, Ye’re the one ta convince me to go back ta work, remember?”

“I… did?” Ryusei turned his head to the side, his eyes drifting off the captain. “Heh… right.”

“Ye feelin’ ok? Ye’re worryin’ me.”

“I-I’m fine.”

Ahab glanced over his pale face again. “Course ye are. Just... stay here. Drink some more water, there be some bottles with the rest o’ the drinks. Don’t drink anythin’ but the water, ye hear? I’ll be back soon enough.”

“I’ll... try not to forget,” muttered Ryusei, hugging the captain’s pillow.

_A girl’s hopeless, pleading face- stricken with tears._

Ahab flinched and looked warily around the room. He shook his head, unnerved. For some reason, he didn’t feel very comfortable leaving Ryusei here alone anymore.

“I didn’t get you sick, did I? H-Heh…”

Ahab ran his hand along the boy’s forehead, brushing away the sweat. “...No,” he said. “I feel fine,” he lied.

“Ah… that’s good.”

Ahab put his hand on the handle of the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Ye’ll be fine, promise.”

_These “visions” or... perhaps “memories-” They be happenin’ more and more. Why?_

Trying, and failing, to shrug off the worry he had in the pit of his stomach, he opened the door and stepped out into the cold.

//

Ahab stared at the bizarre statues fixed to the wall, eyeing the water flying out from each of their chests. “So... this be the fountain he saw, huh?” He pressed his hand to it. He felt slightly off, sure, but it wasn’t anything like how Ryusei must have felt. A chuckle rose out of him, but he couldn’t quite come up with an explanation why.

“Oh? Did you pick up a certain someone’s sense of humor, perhaps?”

“No,” Ahab grunted. “Just… it’s familiar.” Though, he wasn’t sure what exactly it reminded him of.

“Speaking of a certain someone, how is he doing? Alright, I hope?”

“Hm. Not good. Hopefully, he just came down with somethin’.”

“Hopefully? What else could have happened to him?”

Ahab didn’t answer. It had been a few hours now, and he was debating just up and leaving. Then again, he’d get in trouble for doing something like that. Just then, he remembered something.

He turned to face him. “Those who died in that sea- ye inherited their memories, didn’t ye?”

Aegir raised his eyebrows. “I did, yes. You could say that is one of the many reasons I now work here!”

“Aye, ye might know somethin’ about this then.”

“Oh? About what? Hold on…” His eyes widened and his eyes darted from Ahab to the fountain. “Hold on a minute, do you mean to say that Ryusei is remembering things?”

Ahab nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. “Him and me both. Whatever we’re rememberin’- it involves the two of us. Ah, maybe that’s not true.”

Aegir had a serious expression on his face now. The gears were obviously turning up there. “How do you mean?”

“I’ve been rememberin’ things far longer than he has, that’s fer sure. Just before Ryusei and I got together, I started rememberin’ someone- a girl. It wasn’t anythin’ big. A name- Asuka- and some feelings. Sadness, anger, acceptance… and love.”

“Hm. If you told him about it, I cannot imagine he was that happy about that.”

“Aye, but he got over it,” Ahab said, a faint blush rising to his cheeks.

“Hm! In any case, things have gotten more real, have they not? More defined memories, I mean.”

Ahab leaned against one of the pillars in the room, still looking toward the fountain. “I’m sure ye remember that Christmas party. Do ye remember-”

“-That music box.” Aegir interrupted. “Those drinks too? Maybe even when your treasure rubbed his slippers?”

“Well, one of the drinks was-” Ahab coughed and continued, “…never mind. How’d ye know?”

He leaned against another pillar and folded his arms. “This is… interesting. Back then, I thought it was weird how you reacted to all of those things- this explains that.”

“...Good grief. There was one other time… at least for me. When Ryusei woke me up that morning, for a split second I saw him as a girl with a blue flower in her hair. When Ryusei rubbed the head of those ridiculous slippers-”

“To be fair, they look quite soft.”

“-Shut up. When he rubbed the head, he said somethin’ along the lines of... ‘I’ve always wanted to do that.’ That musta triggered somethin’. I saw her again, but It was like a weddin’ hall, flowers everywhere.”

Aegir’s expression darkened. “And… did Ryusei say anything about this?”

“He saw nearly the same thing, but-”

“He saw you.” Aegir winced as Ahab nodded. “Ah… that explains a lot. Too much, really. That must be why your reactions to getting these memories have not been nearly as dramatic as his. I’m not sure I know what went on with you two, but it sounds like you are getting the memories of yourself, while he is getting them from some other... personality, you could say.”

“So what? What’s that mean?”

Aegir touched the locket on his chest that held a picture of his daughters. “Inheriting memories is far from a simple process. In most stable cases, it can be done through some sort of interface- like how the sea was for me. You see, I could take in memories without overriding my own. It can still be done without an interface, at least in theory. However, it would be far more risky. In your case, I doubt anything too serious will happen. Wherever these memories are coming from, you will still be you.”

“That right? So then, what about Ryusei?”

His gaze sharpened. “If these memories from someone else bombard him enough, it could easily override him. By forcing herself into his soul, she could break him. The more he has in common with her, the worse it means for him.”

“Hold on, if me memories are from meself and that be fine, then-”

Aegir shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid. You are you, and your soul is your own regardless of what happens. If the souls are different but have too many similarities, one is likely to crowd out the other… and if his reaction yesterday is anything to go by, he is in some serious hot water.”

Suddenly, there was the sound of someone running toward them. Ahab’s tail flicked around as he turned, irritated that whoever this is was interrupting whatever Aegir had left to say.

“Hey!” he yelled, “No runnin’ in the hallway, brat!”

“You’re Ahab, aren’t you.” It was the same girl he had seen earlier at the front desk.

“What’s it to ye?”

She stamped her foot. “Oh, drop the act, you know he’s in trouble. Where’s that kid?”

“You mean Ryusei, do you not? Perhaps we could tell you in exchange for your name?” Aegir asked, winking.

“Shut UP goddamnit! Take a hint already! You’re just like-” She cut herself off, glaring at the two of them. “Whatever. Just tell me where he is.”

Ahab’s eye narrowed suspiciously and his tail stopped moving. “Not here right now. Home sick.”

“God- Ugh. If he’s where I think he is, It’s a good thing you’re not with him right now…” She muttered this, exasperated. “Go out front, someone’s waiting for you. You,” she added, pointing to Aegir, “stay here.”

“Hey! Why should I stay behind?”

“Because I say so. Hey, geezer! What are you standing around for? Move it or lose it!”

“Kids these days...” Ahab muttered as he turned around and strode away from the fountain, turning from one hallway to another until he reached the front lobby. Waiting just inside was a skinny boy dressed in black and white with equally white hair held up with two black cords. Ahab slowed down, eyeing the brat.

“Shit, we’re running out of time,” the kid muttered. “Hey, grandpa! Where is he? Where’s Ryusei?”

“I left him on board me ship. Fever. Why do ye need ta know?”

He turned around on the spot, gripping his arms. On his left wrist was a stone-like bracelet. He spun around again. “Fine. We can work with this. If you pick your ass up and haul it, we can make it before it’s too late.”

Ahab took a step toward him. “Hey, brat! If ye know what’s goin’ ta happen, just tell me!”

“You shouting isn’t going to get us there! I’ll explain on the way, so get moving!” He said and took off. He called over his shoulder, “If he remembers everything, you might never see him again.”

_Was that nitwit actually right!?_

Ahab took off after him as fast as his prosthetic would allow. “How do ye know what’s been happening to him- to us? Who… who are ye, brat?”

As they ran, Ahab could make out the barest smile on his face.

“Heh. You can call me… Santa.”

//

_Nyarlathotep…_

Eko stood at the back of the elevator, staring at the door that had just closed. It didn’t feel real, none of it did. As it rode upwards, Eko slid down onto the floor and clutched her legs. Not only had she just witnessed someone die- one of the only people she knew- she had also almost killed the other seven. If the captain hadn’t stopped her, it would have been all her fault. She put her head on her knees and closed her eyes. She sat like that for a few minutes, then the elevator came to a halt. She reluctantly picked herself up as the doors slid open. Trying her best to steel herself, she walked forward out of the elevator.

_Nothing to do but move forward._

She turned around at a deep chuckle. Captain Ahab turned it into a cough, but he wasn’t fast enough to mask it completely.

“...Eh? What’s so funny?”

Ahab averted his eye. “Nothin’.” He relented under Eko’s stare and admitted, “Ye’re the same as you were back then. Even when somethin’ bad happens… ye still push on. Ye’re a stubborn one, lass.” He chuckled again and stepped past her.

Eko looked ahead at the room they had walked out into. It was a belfry- 3 large metal bells hung from wooden braces above holes in the floor, one on each side of the room. The walls were made of stone, but the flooring was wooden. It was, thankfully, sturdy enough to support even Ahab’s weight, both from his body and his metal leg. While there was a reasonable amount of space on which to walk, there were also holes in the floor. It was too dark for them to see what was at the bottom, even with some apparent natural light coming from 3 sets of stained glass windows.

On the far end, beside one of the bells, was a door. Next to it was what appeared to be a scanner- It had an old-fashioned ornate look to it and was colored both red and gold. There was a large black circle with a green crosshair, and a small screen that read “locked.” On the very right of it was a handle.

“Curious,” Ded said, scratching his beard. “Very curious.”

Eko tried to pull the lever but when she did, the screen lit up with the word **invalid**. “It’s just some locking thing, right? What’s so weird about it?”

“I confess, I am not sure about the rooms you two went through, but none of the doors I opened had anything like this. On the contrary- they opened up on their own once the puzzle was completed. Was it the same for you two? I do not believe any of us have grouped up together so far.”

Ahab puffed his pipe and grunted, “Hmph. No, they’ve opened on their own. What about ye, lass?”

Eko felt around in her pocket, her fingers brushing the lollipop Ryota had given her. “Ah… no. Not for me. This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this.”

Ded sighed and turned away from the door. “I suppose this could just lead to another part of the room… but perhaps not. In any case, shall we move on?”

Eko set about examining the rest of the room while the captain and Ded did the same. Each of the three stained glass windows had a number. Judging from the position of the closed elevator door, the window nearest to the left bell had the number **256.** The window nearest to the middle bell shone with the number **479.** Finally, the window next to the rightmost bell beside the exit door had the number **138**. Next to each of the bells, she found a large mallet. She carefully took one off the hook it was hanging off of and swung it at the bell. A dull ringing noise spread throughout the room as the bell reverberated. After slightly over a couple seconds the bell came to a sudden halt. Despite standing next to it, it wasn’t very loud at all.

“Good grief, what a quiet bell… not that I’m complainin’,” Ahab grunted as he stepped over to her. He was holding another mallet like a crutch. “Looks like there’s one o’ these at each bell. If each o’ us takes up position at one bell, we can hit it in that order.” He said this while pointing the mallet at the stained glass.

_“Hit them in that order,” huh?_

“Hold on a minute, Captain,” Ded said, walking toward them with the third mallet. He smiled wearily and, in a split second, transformed into his “black” appearance, a cigar in the corner of his mouth. “It’s not fair to keep her in the dark.”

Ahab grunted and sat down next to one of the bells. “...Right.” He puffed away on his pipe, the smoke rising up to mingle with the smoke from Ded’s cigar. “So then, ye’ll want to know what it was that the two o’ us noticed.”

Eko shuddered, thinking about Nyarlathotep’s body floating eerily by. She took a moment to close her eyes and calm down. “What… did you two see? I still don’t understand why… why any of this is happening.”

_I just want to know what’s wrong with me._

Ahab and Ded exchanged a glance. Ded nodded and opened his mouth. “Eko. Back there in that room, when you were calling out your role and rule, what was going on in your head?”

Eko sat down on the floor clutching her legs, her back to the wall. She didn’t look at Ded or Ahab. “I… I don’t know. It was like… like none of it felt real, I guess. Not that… not that that’s weird, right?”

“What else?” Ded asked, his voice more stern now.

She tried to remember back to that moment and found herself spilling it out without hesitation. “It was like everything went dark around the edges, like... tunnel vision. All or… most of the sound cut out. The only thing I could hear was a voice calling out something about a ‘role’ and a ‘rule.’ If felt like…” She paused to take a deep breath and finished, “...like I didn’t have any control over myself. Like I had to get to… to him as fast as I could.”

She looked up to see Ded throw the captain a meaningful glance.

Ahab blew out some smoke. “So, tell me then. Did ye see yourself? Yer reflection, in the glass.”

“Er… no? I don’t think I did,” Eko said uncertainly, cocking her head.

“Ye looked different, brat. Ye looked so much more… focused. Not in the sense of… calculated or somethin’ like that. Ye looked deranged. Maddened… somethin’ I know far too well…” He muttered.

Ded picked up there. “It wasn’t just that, too. What he’s talking about, it happened twice. You remember when you stopped that girl’s instrument from hitting you?”

Eko stared at him, confused. “Y-Yeah? Er, sorry. I didn’t really think about it, I just…”

“That’s right. You didn’t think about it. I think someone else did though, at least somewhat. Tell me, has anyone told you about how this happens?” He said this, then transformed back into white Ded. He had a very distressed expression. “Well?”

“Er, Duo said it has to do with your soul, right? Whichever one of you is more dominant is the one that shows, right?”

Ded gave her a begrudging smile. “Yes, that is… well, it is close enough. To say we have one ‘soul’ is not necessarily correct, but we are not two separate individuals either. However, that is beside the point. What happened back there was not merely a change in the way you handle yourself. You underwent a change, not unlike the one me and my fellow share.”

Eko stared blankly at him. “What? What do you-”

“Yer flower. Yer tie, too.” Ahab grunted.

Eko reached up and pulled the flower out of her hair. It was a dark red, but at the tip of one of the petals was the smallest sliver of blue- slightly more of it was blue than the last time she had seen it. She put it back and looked at her tie. It was blue all the way down, except for one small dot on the bottom that was red.

_They didn’t… use to be like this, right?_

Ahab breathed out another puff of smoke. “One of the petals on that changed fer just a second. It was bright blue. There was a big red dot on yer tie too- for a second, I thought ye’d been bleedin’. That is, before I realized ye were about ta kill us.”

“S-So…” Eko muttered, unnerved, “you’re saying I have another soul… aren’t you?”

Ded shook his head. “We already knew that you exist as a collection of 23 or more souls. The problem with this is how your body reacted. It was not like me and my other half. This was more like something or... someone trying to take you over. To be blunt, there is another soul in you, Eko. It is one that we do not know anything about… and to make matters worse, it is unstable, perhaps highly so. I do not know where it came from, but it is there, make no mistake.”

“Whoever it is…” Ahab said gravely, “they acted like they’ve nothin’ ta lose. Or maybe, that they’ve already lost everythin’ they had to protect.”

“How do you know?” Eko asked.

He smirked. “Heh. I could call it the intuition of a sea-farer, but that’d be nonsense. It’s just… somethin’ I know well.”

Ded’s expression was odd, like a mix between exasperation and curiosity, but evidently, he let it go. “That is all I have to say. I am afraid that I cannot do anything to stop whatever is happening to you. Perhaps once we are out of here…”

“Hmph,” Ahab grunted, then stood up. “Let’s find a way out then.” He reached his hand out to Eko. As she held on and he pulled her to her feet, he muttered, “Just keep yerself together, lass. I know ye can do it.”

Eko nodded and gripped the mallet. She went over to the bell on the left, while Ahab and Ded went to the middle and right bells respectively.

“Are you two in position?” Ded asked. He breathed out and switched back into his black form with a smug grin. “Heh. I’m ready when you two are!”

Smoke shot out of Ahab’s nose. “Do it!”

Ded belted out a short laugh as he hit the bell, causing a low note to ring out. “Eko, to you!”

“To me!” Eko slammed her bell as well, the sound of it layering on top of the existing bell which, unlike before, had not cut off. “Ded-!”

“Righto!” He struck his bell. “Do it, old man!”

“Ye’re older than I am,” Ahab said, barely audible over the din they were making, and hit his bell. His strike was much stronger than the other two. “Do it, brat! Twice now!”

Eko hit the bell then, rolling with her momentum, spun around and hit it on the other side.

“Heh. Ye did good.” Ahab smirked and hit his bell again.

“This is it! You’re last, Captain!” Ded said as he lashed out, adding another voice to the ringing.

Ahab grunted as he hit the last bell, then stepped back, leaning on his mallet. His tail swished around as he puffed on his pipe. Eko stepped back as well, setting her own mallet against the wall. The ringing of the bells wasn’t unpleasant by any means. Despite their large size, they were muffled enough to where it wasn’t painful to stand so close to them. The notes these three bells produced went well together, creating a harmonious mixture that was easy on the ears. This went on for upwards of ten seconds, then it cut off with a click. The silence was uncomfortable to Eko, but Ahab seemed to relax a little.

A rope ladder fell down from one of the holes, landing on a floor that was now lit up. The floor had a bizarre design. On the right side, there was a highly stylized picture of Ded, though his suit was gray and his hair was a mix of black and white. He was raising his arm, on which there was a dark gray bracelet with a circular display surrounded in red. There was a bright blue digital number on it, reading **12** . Beside him, her arm also raised in an opposite manner, was Eko. She had an identical bracelet fixed to her left wrist, but this one read **13.** Ahab himself was behind the two of them, only his back visible. Purple flowers were arranged in the number **20** above him.

_He looks so… alone._

There were clearly some other things down there, but they were too far down to see properly. Eko made to test how sturdy the rope was, but Ded stopped her.

“You and Ahab can stay here. I doubt he’ll be able to go down there with his leg like that, and you’re still shaking.”

Eko looked down at her legs and, sure enough, she was trembling ever so slightly.

_...Ah. I hadn’t even noticed. Guess I’m not as… as stubborn as he thinks._

“I’m… I’m sorry. I guess I can’t just... get over it.”

Ded patted her shoulder and grinned. “Don’t worry about it. Just hold tight, I’ll tell you what I see when I come back up.” With that, he stepped down to the rope ladder and started heading down.

“W-Wait, is that safe?” Eko called out when he had already descended a couple rungs.

Ded laughed. “Compared to sliding down a chimney? Hah! This is nothing.”

Eko let out a sigh and sat down by one of the gaps in the floor, her legs hanging down.

_So… I have someone else inside me. Someone new, someone unstable. But… who? And… why?_

She stared blankly ahead at the wall, her eyes wandering the surface but not really taking anything in. Nyarlathotep’s cocky grin flashed in her mind.

_Does this have to do with Zero? Did… did Nyarlathotep know about this? And what about-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something clanging on the wood floor. Looking over, she saw that Ahab had detached his leg and sat down beside her. The leg itself was fixed to the floor by some spiked attachment similar to a bear trap on the end. His one leg hung down into the gap, swinging ever so slightly. Smoke rose up from the end of his pipe as he opened his mouth.

“So… what’s goin' on up there?” He elaborated, seeing Eko’s blank expression, “I mean, what’re ye thinkin’ about? Tell me.”

Eko sighed and pulled the flower out of her hair. “I… I don’t know. Nothing makes sense, not really. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get him out of my head. I really am… just a brat, huh?” She put the flower back in her hair and stared down at Ded’s tiny form messing around with something.

“Good grief. Don’t talk about yerself like that.”

Eko looked up, surprised. “B-But it’s true, isn’t it? We’re all stuck here, dancing to Zero’s tune, and I can’t even be bothered to do… anything.” She looked ahead, feeling as if the air were stinging her eyes. “The one thing I- or, someone in me- tried ended up nearly killing all of us. I’m… useless. Just a useless brat.”

“Shut it. No, ye’re not.”

She turned her head to see him glaring at her. “Ye’re one o’ my best sailors. Maybe ye're not the fastest or strongest, but ye’ve got a good head on yer shoulders. When it comes ta the sea, the best tool a sailor can have is their wits.” He put his pipe back in his mouth and puffed out some smoke. ”...That be why it was so odd seein’ ye like that earlier. It be a rare thing ta see ye lose control like that.”

Eko blushed at his praise, but the worry she felt didn’t go away. “So… you think what Ded said is right? That there’s someone else in me?”

Ahab turned away so all Eko could see was the scar covering his eye. “...Yes. I’m sure o’ it. Ye never would've acted that way by yerself. Maybe lookin’ fer a way to get out there, sure, but there be no way ye’d ever do somethin’ so reckless without considerin’ what else would happen because of it. Though… maybe whoever else is in ye didn’t want ta hurt anyone else either.”

“Captain?”

He was silent for a moment, then continued, “...It’s nothin’. Just an impression I got. My point is… don’t belittle yerself. Ye’re tryin’ just as hard as the rest o’ us ta get out o’ here.”

Eko smiled despite herself. “Heh. Thanks, Captain. And… I’m sorry I forgot you.”

Ahab smirked. “That was Zero’s fault, not yers. Don’t blame yerself fer somethin’ someone else did, brat. All ye’ll do is wind up hurting yerself and… others who trust ye.”

_Sounds like he’s been through a lot._

After a minute or so of silence between the two of them, Eko spoke up. “If I’m not allowed to call myself a brat, why do you do it so much?”

Ahab blew smoke out his nose. “Hmph! I’m the captain, I can say what I want! As long as ye be a part o’ me crew, ye’ll listen to me orders, got it?”

Eko nodded, a slight relieved smile growing on her face.

_So it’s a term of endearment, huh?_

“Oh, I nearly forgot about it. Did something happen back in that greenhouse?”

Ahab coughed up some smoke and turned away.

“I ain’t got a clue what ye’re talkin’ about.” 

“Uh, you sure? He seemed pretty embarrassed.”

Ahab opened his mouth, closed it, paused for a moment, then asked, “How do ye feel about the bear? Jambavan.”

“Heh, is there any other bear here?”

“Don’t get uppity with me, brat.”

Eko smiled and leaned back, resting her back against the floor. “I think he’s pretty cool. And kinda…”

Ahab chuckled. “Cute?”

“Heh, something like that. I guess I like a man in uniform-”

For the briefest moment, the world seemed to transform into a dazzling display, the dull stone walls being replaced with beautiful stained glass, the ceiling showing a mural of Ahab, a suave leopard-looking man, and… herself?

“Lass? Ye there?”

Just as soon as it came, it vanished once again. Ahab was turned around and looking at her, though his eye reflected something… wary. It was like he himself was uncomfortable.

She sat up, steadying herself on the captain’s broad shoulder. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

Ahab said not a single word, his silence hanging in the air like a thick fog. The robe ladder tensed up and, after a minute or so, Ded stepped back up onto the floor. “There’s not a lot down there, from what I saw. There was a red X underneath that middle bell and some sort of explosive.”

The robe ladder tensed up and, after a minute or so, Ded stepped back up onto the floor. “There’s not a lot down there, from what I saw. There was a red X underneath that middle bell and some sort of explosive.”

Ahab stopped for a moment, his prosthetic only half on. “What do ye mean?”

Ded nodded, frowning. “It was inside a box that said not to open without any light sources nearby. According to a label on it, it’ll only detonate if there isn’t a single trace of light.”

Eko stood up and looked down at the floor far beneath them. “I’m guessing we’re going to want to blow that up, won’t we. Do you know how powerful it is?”

Ded shook his head. “It didn’t have any specifics on it, other than the conditions.”

Ahab stood up fully, having strapped his leg back on. “Right. Then we’ll just have ta solve that last puzzle.” He picked up his mallet and stood by the middle bell.

Ded picked back up his own mallet and looked down at that odd flooring. “From right to left, **13,** **20,** and **12**. Maybe we should hit them in order of smallest to biggest? That’d be right, left, middle.”

_It’s as good a try as any._

“Right!” Ded shouted, and slammed the mallet to the rightmost bell. “Eko!”

“I’ve got it!” Eko shouted back, then hit her bell in turn. “Captain!”

“Hmph. I don’t know about this,” he grunted, then hit his bell as well. The tones rang out for a few seconds, then ceased.

_Nothing happened?_

Ded gritted his teeth and sat down on a raised piece of flooring by one of the bells.

Ahab eyed Eko, who was squatting down by the edge of one of the holes in the floor. “Ye got anythin', lass?”

She stared at the numbers on the bracelets, then looked up at the windows bearing a set of other numbers. Before she even made the connection, a chill went down her spine. Then, the answer popped into her head like she just… knew.

“It wants… the digital root…” she breathed.

Ahab’s tail froze. “...What do ye mean? Speak up!” She turned to see him looking at her, his eye wide with a madness she had never seen before. He was breathing hard and looked, quite literally, insane.

Ded stepped over, looking curiously at the captain. “Hold on. What’s that reaction for?”

Ahab said nothing, looking off to the side as he calmed down. They sat like that, both questions standing in the air for a decent while. Then, he spoke up. “Sorry. Don’t know what came over me. I just… felt like I remembered somethin’.”

_So he remembers something about a “digital root-” and evidently, it was something important._

She felt like the answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she decided to answer his question. “I’m... not sure why I know, but a ‘digital root’ is basically the sum of the parts of a number. That’s what that mural on the floor is getting at.” She pointed down at the number on her bracelet- **13.** “That number is on the left, right? The number on the window by that bell is **256,** right? When you add up those numbers- er, 2 5 and 6 individually, then you get 13. The digital root is when you keep doing that until there’s a single digit. So... that would be **4** in this case.”

Ded took the cigar out of his mouth. “So then, this ‘digital root’ would be **3** for the **12** on my wrist, while the **20** above this grump here is **2**. Am I getting this right?”

“Yeah, I think so. That means it’d be the middle bell, the right bell, and then the leftmost bell. You two ready?”

Ded nodded and gripped his mallet while Ahab turned toward the middle bell. Once they were all positioned in the right place, Ahab drew back and hit the bell. The note that rung out was quieter than any he had caused before.

“...Yer turn,” Ahab grunted, setting his mallet to the side and sitting down on a raised bit of flooring.

Ded’s bell rang out one last time, then he set his mallet to the side. “Alright, girlie. Your turn now. Hey, you even paying attention?”

She perked up as she was put on the spot. “...Ah! R-Right!” She drew back and hit the side of the bell. The bells rang out together for a couple seconds, then was cut off. A grinding noise replaced it as the middle bell, the one closest to Ahab, started lowering down. The three of them grouped up and watched the ropes holding it lower further and further and further down.

_Huh… if that thing falls goes all the way down to the floor, then…_

_Wait._

“Er, Ded? You know that thing that blows up when it’s really dark?”

“Yeah, what about- ...ah,” the old man said, coming to the same realization.

Ahab’s eye widened. “...Where did ye put it?”

“It’s, uh, on the floor by the red X. If it’s where I think it is, then… it’ll probably be crushed by the bell…”

Ahab looked down at the descending bell, his eye wide. “If that gets its hull pierced…!”

Eko looked blankly from the two of them to the bell. Once everything clicked in her mind, she looked down at the ladder.

_Well, I don’t think I can climb down fast enough to catch up, what with how far down it is… but…_

Ahab stepped forward. “Hold on, brat. Ye can’t seriously-”

Eko looked back at him with an apologetic smile. “Heh, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” With that, she stepped off the platform.

“Eko-!” Ahab yelled, but it was too late. The air whipped by her ears as she fell down, reaching and passing the slowly descending bell.

_Toofasttoofasttoofasttoofast!_

She reached out and grabbed hold of the ladder. A searing pain shot up her wrist, but she didn’t let that slow her down. She slid down the rest of the way and dropped to the floor. Her feet pounded on the floor as she ran to the black box. The bell was coming down fast, and the box was lined up right beneath the rim. In a panicked moment, she looked around her for something, anything. She spotted an empty wooden crate and picked it up.

_Owmywristowmywristowmywrist!_

Shutting out the pain in her right arm, she threw the box with surprising strength at the black box, knocking it onto the red X. A moment later, the bell landed on the ground. Almost immediately after this, a sort of dull puffing noise emanated from the bell. Something small and shiny popped off the outside of the bell, landing right in front of her. Gleaming before her was a small brass key. Holding her injured wrist close to her, she picked it up and put it in her shirt pocket.

Ded’s voice called out from above. “My dear girl, is everything alright down there?”

“Ah, yeah!” Eko called back. She looked at the tension-filled ropes attached to the top of the bell. “It looks like there’s a couple ropes holding onto this thing! Do you think you two could pull one of them? It doesn’t have to be far, just enough to see under it. I think.”

She heard one of them- Ahab, judging by the sound of the footsteps- walk off toward where the bell used to hang. She heard his prosthetic bite into the floor as the rope strained. Slowly, the rim of the bell lifted off the ground. Just underneath was a golden box.

“Er… please don’t drop it!” Eko called up, then crouched down on the floor. As fast as she could, she reached under, grabbed the box, and pulled her hand out. It was smooth and polished to the point where she could easily make out her reflection.

_Heh, I can’t believe I even forgot what I look like._

She touched her hands to the freckles dotting her cheeks, looking at her semi-vacant expression. Her eyes wandered up to the flower that was resting in her hair.

_Jeez... this flower just stays in, huh? Oh, right._

“Thank you, Captain! You can let go now!” Eko called up. The bell fell with a clang onto the floor, cracking it. She winced, rubbing her wrist. She had no plans of joining the old buffalo up there in needing a prosthetic.

_Although... that’s a pretty sweet leg if I do say so myself._

“Alright! I’m coming back up,” she called, then started ascending the ladder with the box tucked under her arm. It took a while, hindered by her injury, for her to reach the top once again. As she pulled herself up above the platform, Ahab reached down and lifted her to her feet. Once she had found her footing, Ahab blew a cloud of smoke out of his nose in anger.

“What’re ye thinking, brat!?”

Eko winced and leaned against the wall, tired from the climb. ”I-If that thing had blown up from being crushed, you both would have been in danger-”

“And what about ye!? If ye hadn’t grabbed hold o’ the ladder, ye could have died! And if ye had made it down too late, ye could’ve been blown ta smithereens! Don’t do that again, got it!?” He grabbed her left wrist and started feeling around, causing her to wince.

_His hands are so… warm._

“Hmph. Looks like ye sprained yer wrist. That’ll teach ye to be more careful… ye hear me?” He stopped feeling around for the injury then whispered, “Nothin’ like this be worth the cost o’ yer life, lass.”

Eko focused back on where she was and pulled her hand away, blushing. “Y-Yeah, sorry.”

Ded stepped over from where he had been sitting, having reverted back to his white form. “So then, what did you find? Did the explosive box contain a present- ah, forgive me. Santa humor.”

“...Oh! Yeah, this thing was underneath the bell after that thing blew up.” She handed him the polished golden box, then reached into her pocket. She pulled out the key and handed it to him too. “That popped off the bell when it happened.”

“Well then, how about we see what is inside?”

“Just do it,” grunted Ahab, and Ded stuck the key into the box. The lid popped open as he turned it, revealing a cushy velvet interior. Ded’s hand obscured the contents as he picked something out and handed it to Eko. It was a bracelet identical to the one she was wearing in the mural beneath them. This one, however, merely had a black screen where the number should have been.

He pulled out another, holding it in the same hand that was propping up the box. “Hold onto that for now. I think there is… a good chance that the two of us will have to put these on, eventually.” He then pulled out the last object in the box and handed it to Captain Ahab, his eyebrows raised. Before Eko could see what he was holding, however, Ahab quickly stowed it away in his coat.

Eko rubbed her sore wrist, looking at Ahab’s flushed, fluffy face. “Er, what was that?”

“Nothin’.”

“Huh? What if we need it-”

“If we do, ye’ll find out. Stop askin’ questions, brat.”

Ded walked off toward the door bearing the odd locking mechanism, holding the bracelet carefully in his hand. Eko glanced back at Ahab, who was staring down at the mural. Something in his expression worried her. He looked unsure of something, uncomfortable. She turned and walked up behind Ded, who was waving the empty bracelet in front of the crosshair. Nothing was happening.

“Ah… I believe we will have to wear these bracelets in order to open this door- and if I were to make a wager, I would put my money on it being the two of us.”

Eko looked back at Ahab, who was still looking down. “...Right. We’re the two wearing bracelets.” She fiddled with the bracelet, testing to see if it would close when not on an arm. No dice. “Er, Ded? Can I ask you something?”

“Ask away, my dear girl.”

“What did you give him? He seems kinda… bummed.”

“’Bummed,’ oh? ...Yes, I can certainly see that.” He chuckled, then clicked the bracelet onto his wrist. The display lit up with a bright blue number **1**. “I confess, I cannot quite make out the meaning the object I gave him holds. Whatever it may be, it must have something to do with him- I am confident about that. If you need to know… well, I am sure he will tell you. Just give him some time.”

_Do we even have “time?”_

She clicked the bracelet shut over her injured wrist, which was just starting to return to normal. It wasn’t uncomfortably tight, not really, but it didn’t have any room to move up and down her wrist. She glanced at Ded, then held the bracelet up to the scanner. There was a beeping sound, and two asterisks popped up on the display.

“Looks like you were right.”

“Mm. Yes, it seems I was,” Ded sighed. He waved his bracelet in front of the scanner as well, and one more asterisk popped up. He put his hand on the lever next to the device.

“Are you ready, Eko?”

“Yeah- ah, wait a minute. Captain! I think we’re about done!” Eko called out to Ahab, who perked up like he was broken out of some deep thought.

“Ah… I’m right here, brat. No need ta yell,” he grunted as he stepped over to the two of them. “Heh. Not waiting fer me, I hope?”

“Captain?”

Ded smiled. “I thought we should all finish this together.” He made to pull the lever, but Eko put her hand out.

“Er… hold on a minute. I just remembered there’s something I should have, er, brought up.”

“What is it?” Ahab said gruffly, putting his pipe to his lips. Ded withdrew his hand and stepped away from the lock.

They stood like that for a while, Eko unable to come up with the words she wanted to say. Eventually, she just sighed and pulled a couple papers out of her pocket- the papers dealing with some past nonary game. She handed the one with the diagram on it to Ahab while giving Ded the letter from Zero. His eyes scanned down the page, his eyebrows getting higher as he went along. Then, he stopped.

He looked at her, confused. “Have you two-” Before he finished his thought, however, he was cut off by just how still Ahab was. His eye was fixed at a single point on the paper. The old man in white moved over to see what he was staring at. His eyes went wide. “My dear captain, you-”

“...What’s this all mean, brat,” Ahab said and handed the paper he was holding over to Ded.

“Er… From what I can tell, those two papers mean that there was some sort of nonary game before this one. According to Ryota, Duo, and Jambavan, they each know one of the people in that… then there’s the two of you.” Eko breathed in deep, hesitating as she thought of Nyarlathotep’s body again. “Y-You saw as much in that diagram.”

“Heh, So what,” Ahab muttered. “If I were put into some… _death game,_ ye’d think I’d remember it. But I don’t. Fer all ye know, that’s just… just some old plan they had.”

Eko gripped her shoulder. “...N-No. That’s what I originally thought, but… Nyarlathotep said it happened. That he remembered it. Christine also said that it happened, but that she doesn’t know anything specific.”

Ded frowned. “I got the impression they knew each other, but… well, It would explain ‘that,’ would it not?”

“...What do ye mean, ‘that?’” Ahab said, smoke rising from his pipe in rings.

Eko took in a deep breath. “On that note from Zero that Ded is holding, it says, ‘The ‘digital root’ of those three numbers will be the door that they can pass through...’ Captain, do you mind if I ask you something?” She pressed on, not waiting for an answer, “The way you reacted back when I said digital root. How did you know something like that?”

“I… I just…” Ahab stammered.

“You remembered, right? …Just like I did,” Eko said softly. “I don’t know if Zero hit you with the same memory… _thing_ … he did to me, but whatever the case, both of us remembered it.”

Ahab turned around and glared at Eko. “So, ye mean to say that ye and I have gone through this unscathed, only ta forget everythin’. Ye saying ye’re that scratched out one in the middle?”

Just as she was about to answer, Nyarlathotep’s words rang out in Eko’s mind.

_This is still a minty fresh new experience for me, fuzzball._

_But that isn’t to say it hasn’t happened before~_

“I… maybe. You already know I don’t remember anything. Judging from your reactions, you don’t remember it either- hold on.” She stopped, a realization coming over her.

Ded frowned. “Whatever is the matter?”

“Captain, tell me. Please. When you remember things, what is it like? Is it like... a sorta anxious feeling? Like you know the memory is creeping up on you before it even shows up, then it just… pops in?”

“It be the same fer ye?”

Ded looked from the two of them. “That… is far from normal. I would like to say that that could be the result of Zero’s artifact, but…” He turned away as if he were in a conversation with someone else.

“Y’know, that’s not the first time you’ve done that,” Eko pointed out. “Are you ok?”

He chuckled. “Hoho, yes of course! As you said, the more dominant of the two of us is the one who appears outwardly. However, when one of us is on the ‘outside,’ the other one is still there on the ‘inside.’ I confess, it can be handy at times. But that… is beside the point.” He walked over and sat down in front of where the middle bell used to be. “Now, I am sure you have no idea what I am about to reference, Eko, so this is directed at Captain Ahab. Did you hear about an incident years ago in which eighteen children- twins- were kidnapped?”

Ahab pulled out his pipe and frowned. “...No. I’m guessing ye’ll tell us what happened though, won’t ye.”

Ded nodded sadly. “As I just said, this group of nine pairs of twins were kidnapped in November… some many many years ago. These kids were separated from their respective sibling and forced to go through a series of puzzles along the others. The object was to seek a way out in nine hours… or die trying.”

“T-That’s awful!” Eko gasped. “Why did they do that?”

“Well… it was an experiment. They tried to use these pairs of twins to test their hypotheses on something called the Morphogenetic Field. They wished to see if they could control it, to manipulate it to their own advantage. Do the two of you know what that field entails?”

Eko’s heart skipped a beat, remembering what Duo had said about it. “‘The simplest explanation would be that it’s an invisible field that contains and transmits information, all the while existing outside of spacetime. Theoretically, it’s possible to send information to the past or future using it.’” Under the pressure of the other two’s quizzical looks, she added, “Duo brought it up back in the first room we went through. He mentioned that the people who did some experiment with it were arrested for violating human rights.”

Ded nodded. “He is right, of course, on all accounts. The troubling thing about this is that their experiment was a success. They did succeed in transporting information through spacetime… well, the effect occurred, in any case. You see, in one of the testing locations… there was a little girl. One of the masterminds behind it, the CEO of that pharmaceutical company, locked her inside an incinerator. It would be rational to assume that her fate was sealed, but a miracle happened- and not by my hand! Something happened in the future that resulted in her survival- the solution to the puzzle she needed to shut down her imminent demise was transmitted to her using that very same Morphogenetic Field.”

Eko said nothing, but Ahab opened his heavy mouth. “So… this game they played. That was another nonary game, wasn’t it.”

Ded smiled ruefully. “I am sorry to say that it was. I cannot presume to know everything- what little information I do have is merely a coincidence that it occurred so close to Christmas. I was able to glean certain information out of their ‘wishes for survival.’” He sighed, glancing down at his hands. “I have no idea where young Akane would be right-”

_A flash of light, smoke filling the room, and a gas mask in the corner of the room._

Eko staggered backward, her vision suddenly dark around the edges. Ded was shouting something out to her, but all she could hear was a faint ringing noise. She lowered herself to the ground, breathing hard. A minute passed and, little by little, her hearing returned to normal.

“Eko.”

It was Ahab’s voice.

“Relax.”

She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, heeding the old man’s instructions. thirty seconds, a minute, two minutes. Finally, she opened her eyes to see Ahab looking at her, worry evident in his eye.

“How do ye feel?”

Eko sighed shakily and got to her feet, Ahab steadying her on the way up. “...Better now, sorry.”

Ded handed her a bottle of water he had seemingly produced from nowhere. “That was quite the shock, my girl! If you do not mind the question, what caused that episode?”

Ahab shot the old man a warning glance as Eko gulped down half the bottle. “I… I’m not sure. All I know is that I... saw something. _Remembered_ something. It wasn’t like the digital root thing either, or the feeling I got when I read the name ‘Kurashiki’ on that card back in the lab. It was like… I saw the world through someone else.” Her voiced lowered to something barely above a whisper. “I think I saw the moment I was kidnapped.”

Ded stood up and walked over to the door, perhaps a little quicker than one would expect him to be. Halfway through, he transformed into his black Ded self. “Let’s get going. The longer we spend, the worse off Eko will be. We’re sure of it.”

“Hold on,” Ahab grunted, keeping a wary eye on Eko. “Ye had a point ta all o’ that. Finish what ye started.”

Ded grumbled and pulled the lever on the machine next to the door. The display lit up with the word “unlocked” and the door slid open. “...My point was that, regardless of if your memory of something was wiped, it’s possible the memory itself remains in the morphogenetic field. At the very least, I think that’s what’s happening to the captain. Somehow, he’s remembering his lost memories.”

“And… what about me?” Eko asked.

“...I think you’re similar. But… not the same. If we’re right about this, then all this grump is doing is getting back his own memories. You, on the other hand… well, just take a look at your flower.”

Eko, surprised, carefully pulled it down. It didn’t take her long to notice what he was referring to. One of the petals was bright blue. “It’s… spreading?”

“Whoever that is, they aren’t you in the same sense that Ahab was himself. The longer this goes on… well, let’s just get going.”

He walked swiftly through the open door, gesturing for them to follow as he vanished from sight.

“You think all this is really… real?” Eko asked Ahab, stepping forward toward the door.

Ahab walked beside her. “…I don’t know if somethin’ so absurd could be true, but I don’t know what else would explain everythin’.”

_That name, Akane. Why did that trigger… that? How did all this even happen? What’s wrong with-_

_No._

_I can’t think like that. I have to keep pushing on._

They walked side by side down a dark hallway, the only light they had was the faint blue glow emanating from Eko’s bracelet. Neither of them said anything- either because they had no words or because they had too many. Eko herself was grateful for the silence she had to properly compose herself. As much as she was coming to trust the others (though, perhaps not Christine), she didn’t want to burden them with everything that was happening to her. Not unless she had to.

After a few minutes of walking, the area around her started to get lighter and lighter. The smell of a salty breeze tickled her nose. “...Huh, smells like the ocean,” she commented to nobody in particular.

“Aye, that it does.” Ahab breathed in deep, then glanced at Eko. “I don’t know if it’s good or bad that ye’ve got that in yer head.”

Eko smiled sadly. “...Yeah. It’s getting hard to trust my own memories.” She glanced down at her ring, then looked at Ahab’s. She had a single yellow band whereas his ring showed one magenta band. She deflated slightly. “Guess we can’t go through the next room together.”

Ahab chuckled. “Heh. Don’t worry, I’m sure... whatever happens, ye’ll do the right thing.”

_“If there’s one thing you’ve taught me, it’s that I should always do the right thing. And this… I’ve decided that this is the right thing to do.”_

Eko winced and felt her vision start to go black like before.

_No! I won’t do that again, not now._

She breathed deep, smelling the ocean-like breeze. She counted to 10, keeping her breathing steady.

“Eko? Ye alright?” Ahab called.

_It… it worked! Ha!_

She felt the urge to do a funny little dance but suppressed it because she would just look embarrassing. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.”

“...Ye get another one o’ those ‘memories?’”

“N-No, I just, er… got a little dizzy. That’s all,” she lied.

Ahab huffed and kept walking. “Well, looks like ye kept yer head on straight this time. That’s good.”

_So much for trying to hide it. For a guy with one eye, he sure is observant._

Regardless, very soon after that, they exited the hallway into some sort of salt-water cavern, a fresh breeze blowing across the water. Ahead of them were three small black boats. The other 6 were standing in silence, waiting for the two of them. She hid her bracelet covered wrist behind her back, not wanting to attract too much attention.

Ryota and Duo walked over to greet her.

“H-Hey, Eko! How’re you holding up?” Ryota asked, fidgeting with a piece of candy.

“She’s fine,” said Duo, looking over her from top to bottom. “More importantly, did you do what I asked?”

Eko sighed. “Yes, Ryota. I’m doing fine, thanks. As for Ahab, he doesn’t-” She thought of everything Ded had said before about the morphogenetic field and the possibility of how they were remembering things. “...He doesn’t remember it. Maybe Zero did something with our memories or… or something.”

Duo gave her a piercing glance. “...Right. I suppose it wouldn’t make much sense for him to remember it, considering what happened to you. In any case,” he stated, glancing at her ring, “you’re with Christine and Benten.”

Eko looked at the black boats, then down at Ryota and Duo’s rings- the former’s was a single red band, while the latter’s consisted of two green bands. “Ah. The ring colors changed so we only have one option.”

“Precisely. You have the yellow solo, while Benten and Christine have the dark blue paired rings. Together, you make black. The same goes for Ryota and Jambavan- the green duos- and for the captain.”

Eko nodded. “So then, the last group would be you, Ded, and…” She stopped, glancing at the water, remembering the insane hyena. “...Just you two and the other cyan pair ring.”

“We’re on the same page. Good. I’ll go explain it to him, then we can set off.” Duo set off with his lab coat trailing behind him. He walked toward Ahab, who was talking to Benten. Even from the distance they were at, she could see Benten’s face paling.

Eko turned to Ryota. “So soon?’

He popped a lollipop out of his mouth, bent crooked in a frown. “Yeah, Ded ran out here and told us all to get ready. Something has him worried, I think. He didn’t tell us what, though, so I just kinda assumed it was something to do with… with what happened to _him_.” Ryota finished, his voice trembling.

Eko felt the unopened lollipop she still had in her pocket. “...Yeah. That has to be it.”

“Ah… I do believe it is nearly time for the final act,” said a voice from behind her. Christine was standing there, umbrella in hand. “How will the actors play their parts, I wonder?”

“What’s your deal, Christine?” Eko asked. “...You know what’s going on here, don’t you?”

She let out a quiet but lofty giggle. “Perhaps I do, perhaps I do not. In truth, you may know far more than the rest of us. Regardless, you will just have to see, will you not?”

Ryota frowned. “Why not just tell us? You don’t seem actively, er, ‘malicious’ or anything like that. I don’t see the harm.”

_“The puzzles haven’t been actively malicious or anything. I do wonder what the point of this all is, though.”_

Eko winced, keeping herself together despite what she had felt.

Christine’s face didn’t change- but somehow, Eko got the impression that she was smiling at her. “No, you do not. Understandable, yet still… unfortunate. Yes, there are a great many unfortunate occurrences in this tragedy. Perhaps though… the story is not yet at an end, hm? I look forward to seeing the finale.” She walked off without waiting for either of them to react.

Eko sighed, having calmed down. “I’ll try and get something out of her, ok?”

_How long is there left of all this? How long do I have to resist… whoever that is?_

“O-Ok. Be careful, Eko.”

Jambavan walked over to them, nearly tripping over a stray rock. “H-Hey, I think we’re about to set off… Eko, Benten and Christine are waiting for you on the, uh, leftmost ship.”

Eko looked over at all three of them, then saw Benten’s shockingly blue hair aboard the boat. “Ah, ok. Thanks, Jambavan. I’ll see you two later, alright?”

“Y-Yeah…!”

“Stay safe, Eko!”

She smiled and jogged over to the ship, climbing up a ramp on the deck. When the three of them were on the same deck at once, the sails unfurled and the boat disconnected from the port. None of the three said anything- not even Benten, who seemed like she was trying hard to avoid making eye contact with Eko. It turned toward a pitch black cave opening. As they entered, the only light on board was that of the number 2 fixed to Eko’s bracelet. In the pitch darkness, Christine’s voice rang out.

“And so begins the final scene in this tale of tragedy and woe. The whole world has been looking forward to this moment. See this, o star of the show- Should you ever find yourself in a difficult space, just know that eventually, everything will make sense. This is not your happy ending- but it is not a sad one either, not truly. Just remember- the world is what you make of it.”

Her voice faded away into nothingness, producing a feeling so ominous in Eko that it made her very hair stand on end. Alone, cast out by the light, they sailed into that inky darkness- ignorant of what lies ahead. A familiar anxious feeling swelled in her heart and, a second later, Ahab’s voice came to mind. She knew it clear as day, but it wasn’t anything she remembered him saying to her.

_“The most dangerous part of the sea ain’t the surface. It’s what lies beneath, where ye can’t see what’s lyin’ in wait for ye.”_

_“Don’t let yer guard down, lass.”_


	5. As Fate Decrees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole lot of stuff happens. I don't really know how else to say it.

“Hmph,” Ahab grunted, running outside the school. “If we want ta get there fast-” Ahab said, but this _Santa_ kid cut him off.

“We’ll take the bus. Not that one,” he said, stopping Ahab from walking toward his usual stop. “Right about… now, some idiot crashed their car. That bus is going to be delayed for another couple minutes.” He took off toward a different bus stop. “Come on, what’re you waiting for!?”

Ahab ran after him as fast as he could, encumbered by his metal leg. He stopped beside the boy- who was breathing only a little bit harder than he was before.

“Hey, Gramps. You know you could get a more useful fake leg, right?”

“Hmph. I-”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just pulling what’s left of it,” he said with a smirk. The bus pulled up to them and they walked on board, sitting in the seats closest to the door. Santa stared out the front window as if he were bored.

“...So then, what’s got ye worked up. Start talking.”

He sighed and leaned back, resting his hands behind his head. “You sure you want me to tell you? It’s not like you won’t remember it soon enough.”

“Tell me, brat!”

He closed his eyes. “Fine, suit yourself- and stop yelling, you’ll give yourself a heart attack. The first thing you’ll need to do, know that there’s more than one timeline. The more you believe that, the more this all will make sense. Also, everything I’m about to tell you is the truth, so don’t even bother trying to argue with me on this.”

Ahab clenched his fist. While he would normally be skeptical, everything that had happened since the very beginning wearing on him. “...Fine.”

“So then, all of this began back a couple years or so ago, back when Ryusei didn’t exist as himself. Instead, he was a completely different person.”

“...Ye mean Asuka.”

Sant’s eyebrows raised. “Oh? Color me surprised. Usually, it takes a little more than that to make the connection. Yeah, he used to be her. I’m sure that gives you more questions- I’ll get to that. Everything that’s happening to you and him is because of what happened that night.”

The old man felt a familiar sensation and knew, even before it happened, that he was about to see something- to remember something.

_A stonelike bracelet, wrapped around his wrist. A white number fixed on it- 9._

“So then… what happened?” Ahab grunted, averting his eyes.

“You, Asuka, and seven others were put in a game my sister made. She called it the _Nonary Game_.”

_A girl’s relieved smile, a light blue flower woven into the side of her hair. He looked down at his bracelet- the number 5 standing fresh in his mind._

“...Yer sister?” the old man asked, glancing over at the boy.

He wore a disgruntled expression. “Yeah. She’s gone too ‘cause of that. Maybe in that one timeline… nevermind. You all went through a load of puzzles with… a few goals in mind. One of them was simply to get you all closer to Asuka than you already where- you included, obviously.”

_The girl- Asuka, staring out into some sort of aquarium. In his reflection, he could see two numbers- 1 on his bracelet, and 8 on hers._

Ahab grunted. “We were close even before all a’ that happened, weren’t we?”

Santa smirked. “You could say that. It wasn’t anything as… _physical_ … as you and Ryusei, but there were definitely feelings. I remember my sister saying one of the rooms was really important to you and Asuka, though I wasn’t able to see what it was. She said it was something to ‘bump’ your relationship up to the next level.”

_Petals settled down on her dark hair, her cheeks dyed a pink hue. The scene changed. Her face turned anguished as she shouted to the rest, causing him to lift his arm. His bracelet showed the number 1._

Ahab leaned forward, pressing his fingers onto his forehead. Each and every one of these memories brought back something else, some other detail- bits and pieces of the other 7 that were there. He distinctly remembered a dragon maid dressed in blue and an angry brown dog transient who smelled vaguely of smoke. His fur stood on end, feeling the next memory coming on once again.

_She shouted something at a girl dressed in a long black robe- Zero. He glanced down at his bracelet. A white 3 glared back at him._

Santa fixed his piercing gray eyes on him. “You remember what happened.”

_A sharp pain split his wrist, breaking through the bracelet. Her face- Asuka’s anguished, pleading face was caked with tears. He could see the very moment where what he had done hit her. She looked like someone whose whole world was falling apart beneath her._

Ahab closed his eye, taking a shaky breath. “Aye, I do. Now I do. Each o’ us... died... in front a’ her.”

“You did,” Santa said simply. “I don’t know what order it was, but… I do know you were the last.”

Ahab said nothing, his mind racing with memories that used to belong to him. He couldn’t remember everything, no, but there was a great deal he could, including _her_ explanation. “...Dirty,” he muttered.

Santa rolled his eyes. “I get you’re old, but I can’t hear you when you talk so quietly.”

“That’s a dirty trick, ye brat!” Ahab yelled, startling the few other passengers on the bus. “That _Zero_ told us we were makin’ sure Asuka would live- that we were… _convergin’_ every timeline toward that. That’s why we summoned the exceptions, that’s why we all died! Well, here we are and she ain’t here! If ye don’t got a good reason-”

Santa glared at him, folding his arms. “The plan was never to keep Asuka around. Hell, if she stuck around, none of this would have worked.”

“What do ye mean?” Ahab asked, blowing out hot air.

“If you shut it and listen, you might just find out both why and how, you know.” Ahab sat back in a huff as Santa continued, “The first important thing is the emotional burden she was under. Sure, everyone who died came back… or… mostly everyone.” His face darkened, then he continued on. “In any case, even though she knew those deaths weren’t really _permanent_ per se, she still had to watch them die. There’s no way she would be able to get that out of her mind, regardless of their return. Hell, you’re perfect for this, aren’t you?”

Ahab was caught slightly off guard. “Oh?”

“You’ve lost many of your sailors at sea. Imagine if you watched them all die, eaten by some vicious monster or drowned beneath the waves, then the next day you see them just walking about, doing their own damn thing, none the wiser to having just met an awful end.” He rolled his eyes, holding his hands aloft. “And I’m not saying in an “ _it was all a dream”_ situation, this is assuming that you knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that they died. You’d feel like shit, wouldn’t you? It’s not like the deaths _didn’t_ happen, but how is she supposed to tell anyone about that? How could she? How would you? That’s the kind of stress she was under.”

_Lass… I…_

“The other thing is, her soul was- _is_ very, very closely tied with the app. When she closed out of it improperly, she lost her status as a summoner, making things worse for her. Not only was she under immense emotional strain, but her body itself was struggling to keep herself together. Eventually, she was able to make a new ‘account’ in the app. You know how she did that?”

A sense of realization came over Ahab. “She used her rule, didn’t she?”

Santa sat back up fully. “Yeah. She used her rule of rending to cut ‘herself’ from her soul. She didn’t cut away her _soul itself_ , mind you. Just that which made her… her. That right there is where all of this stems from. That was, perhaps, the first major option that timelines had. A unique _protagonist_ , you could say.”

“Protagonist?”

Santa rolled his eyes. “That’s what my sister called it. The person who would give each timeline a chance. I thought it was too cheesy, but whatever. I know… _knew_ better than to argue with her.”

“So that’s why Ryusei exists instead o’ her. He was one a’ those ‘randomly generated’ selves.”

“Well, you’re catching on quicker than usual. Congrats. When a _protagonist_ is made, it’s filled with potential. My job was to watch over you and whoever Asuka would turn into.”

“And why be that the case,” Ahab grunted, looking out the front window. His ship was coming into view now.

“Each _protagonist_ has loads of options, and I’m really only talking about relationships here. I don’t care who they want to get it on with, so long as it isn’t you. If it is, then we have a problem, and that’s why I was given this duty.”

“Ye’ve lost me.”

“Hold that thought,” Santa said, then stood up and walked off the bus. Ahab blinked and followed him. The two of them were just a few blocks away from the docks where the captain’s ship was at. “We’re a bit early this time, so I can keep going.”

They walked at a brisk pace toward the ship, the black bands of cloth wrapped around Santa’s shoulders dragging behind him in the wind. He dug his hands into his pockets, glaring at the boat they were approaching.

“See, thing is that she’s not actually gone for good. Some of the energy from the exceptions stayed inside her phone, which gave her some easy… _accidental_ contact with the morphogenetic field. When she ‘severed’ away everything to do with herself, she wound up forcing herself into the morphogenetic field. You could say that she exists outside of time and space, existing as nothing more than a personality and some memories.”

“Hmph. Course she ain’t gone. Why else would she be here?”

“Glad to see not all of your brain cells have rotted away. Anyway, if she behaves in the way that we assumed she will- and she is- then she’ll have one thing on her mind. You.”

Ahab was taken aback. “...Come again?”

Santa smirked. “Yeah, that’s right. Where she’s at, she can’t do a whole lot other than stew in her own memories. I’m sure that sooner or later, she’d come around to thinking something like ‘ _if only I could have been with him._ ’ Y’know, something sappy like that. Thing is though, she kinda has access to… everything. Every moment, in any timeline. Without my intervention, she would try and ‘return’ to the place she left- replacing the _protagonist_ soul I mentioned. There are only a few situations where this wouldn’t result in the personality of whoever her victim vanishing for good.”

“How’d ye know this?” Ahab demanded.

For once, Santa appeared to be stumped. He rubbed the back of his head, jostling his long white hair. “Agh, how am I supposed to know. All of this just comes from my sister. I guess she found out in some other timeline or something.” He turned away and muttered, “Not like I can do that nearly as well as she can…”

“Excuse me?”

Santa shook his head and held up his arm, showing off his bracelet. “I may not be able to jump timelines like she can- like she could, but this thing lets me reset one… up to a point. The earliest I can reset to is from when the _protagonist_ _divergence_ happens- when a new self formed. It’s usually limited to just my memories going back, but… never mind. It’s not important.”

Ahab grunted as they reached the dock to board his ship, but he didn’t say anything.

“The show’s about to start, so listen up. My job specifically was to use things that would remind her of what happened in that nonary game in order to drive her off should she see them. It’s not easy, but it’s possible when I have unlimited tries... and I only really have to get it right once. Usually.”

“Ye couldn’t fer this timeline.”

“No, I couldn’t. Hell, I’ve known that for a while now. Even before we started the original Nonary Game, we knew that there was going to be one _protagonist_ that Asuka couldn’t be driven away from. His name- Ryusei. Don’t ask me how,” Santa interrupted Ahab, who had opened his mouth, “Every time I asked my sister, she just evaded the question. Everything since that moment has really had to do with you. Those bottles weren’t intended for Ryusei- they were for you. You needed to remember Asuka, to remember as much as you could about that night she left.”

“...Why is that…?” Ahab muttered. He was getting a very foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“You need to be the one to drive out Asuka. If you can do that, you can drive her out- permanently. She won’t harass any other _protagonists_ in other timelines, and Ryusei will be spared.”

“Hmph. What do ye get out o’ it, brat?”

Santa sneered at him. “I’m sure you’d love to know, wouldn’t you? Well... too bad. You don’t need to know. You’re going to go up there, and you’re going to fix Ryusei. If you want to see him again… you don’t have a choice. Don’t let me down.”

Ahab glared at him as he took a seat on a nearby bench, watching toward him lazily. Now burdened with the memories of his past self, he took a step up the ramp to his ship. The worry he felt in the pit of his stomach deepened, but he wasn’t sure who it was for- Ryusei? Or… was it Asuka?

//

Ryusei’s eyes slowly opened to stare at the ceiling of Captain Ahab’s room in a daze. His throat was parched and his voice raspy. Part of him was so warm and exhausted that he just wanted to sleep some more. An odd chill ran down his spine, easily noticeable despite his fatigue.

_I won’t forget, Captain. Never._

_Huh?_

The thought had popped into his mind as if someone else had put it there. He thought for a second, then remembered what Ahab had said about drinking water. Ryusei rubbed his eyes and pushed himself up, the covers slipping off of him. He was assaulted with a wave of hot, sweaty air.

_Ack… I should take a shower, heh…_

He stood up, tripping forward as he was overwhelmed with a sense of being unused to his own body. Yawning, he shakily made his way over to the cabinet where Ahab stored some of his drinks. Pushing aside a couple bottles labeled _Blue Bird_ and _Virtue’s Last Reward_ , he pulled out a large jug of water. He lifted it to his mouth, spilling some out over his body. It was cool on his burning skin. Feeling full, he stood up again to go take a nice, cold shower.

He turned on the water and stood with his back to the cool spray coming from the showerhead. It was quite relaxing, especially after being so overheated earlier. He pulled up a small wooden chair that was laying on the floor and sat down, the water massaging his skull. In the meantime, he thought.

_Back when Ahab was near me, I felt… terrible. It felt the same as yesterday with that fountain, like… I’d never be happy again. But… why?_

He put his head in his hands, shutting his stinging eyes. After a good while, he stood up as steadily as he could, finished washing, then turned off the water. He dried off and stood in front of the shower, looking himself over.

_Is it just me, or am I thinner now... hmm? What’s that?_

He reached up into his hair and pulled away something bright blue- a flower petal. He turned it over in his hands, confused. Despite the rest of his hair and body being wet, this petal was completely dry. He set it down, yawned, and set about brushing his teeth. Once that was done, he got dressed in some basic clothes he had stored here- nothing more than a white shirt and a pair of shorts- and put on the Ahab-themed slippers Ebisu had given him for Christmas. He stepped back into Ahab’s cabin, walking over to the window. The sea’s waves were moving quickly.

_It must be pretty windy out. I bet the captain is gonna need some warming up after he gets back~!_

He turned around, and his eyes drifted from the barrel to the pile of drinks that he had taken out of the cabinet. Figuring he should put them back, he walked over and started doing just that. He put back bottle after bottle, then set his hand on the bottle of _Blue Bird_. A shiver ran down his spine as he looked down at the blue liquid. The darkly colored drink filled him with an odd sense of nostalgia.

_I just wish I knew what happened to you, Asuka. Whatever it was, it must have hurt._

Without warning, he felt as if the ground were swept away from beneath him. He blinked, and the scene had changed. From the looks of it, he was in some sort of partially demolished lobby. Stacks of rubble and destroyed furniture littered the floor. Over in the corner was a familiar fountain- the same one Aegir had shown him before. He felt a bizarre sort of weightlessness and looked down.

He didn’t have a body.

He reached for his face, trying to grab onto something, but nothing moved- he didn’t even feel any sensations where his arms should have been.

_W-Where am I?_

A girl stepped out from a large pile of rubble. She had long, dark hair adorned with a bright blue flower. Fixed to her wrist was a bracelet that appeared to be made out of some sort of polished stone. She was wearing a school uniform with a short, dark gray skirt and a red tie. On the back of her right hand was a star tattoo, just like Ryusei’s own. Her clothes were scuffed, looking as if she had been laying in the rubble itself.

_Is that… Asuka?_

The girl cried out, her voice trembling, “Shiro? Captain? Alice, Shuichi? Akane? Tadatomo, where are you?”

Ryusei felt his heart skip a beat.

_W-Wait… I knew Captain Ahab was involved with this, but… Shiro? Alice, Shuichi, and Tadatomo? None of them ever said anything… and who’s Akane?_

“Good grief, brat, stop yer howlin’. We all be fine.”

The girl turned around and Ryusei followed suit. Together, they saw all six of them- Captain Ahab, Alice, Tadatomo, Shuichi, Shiro, and a girl he didn’t recognize. For some reason, Ahab was missing his hat, exposing the cute little floof of fur on the very top of his head.

_That other girl must be Akane._

Asuka ran forward and wrapped herself around Ahab’s large form. She started sobbing, slow at first, then harder and harder. He wasn’t sure why, but Ryusei felt as if he were crying as well. Ahab tousled her hair, then gently pushed her off of him.

Alice looked up at the sky. “I see you did contain them within this ward,” she said in a mostly deadpan tone, though there was a slight hint of fear to it.

Confused, Ryusei looked up at the sky. What he saw charged his body, making him feel as if his hair were standing on end- despite the fact that he didn’t seem to have any. Far in the sky above them were 8 large beings, nearly all of which were indescribable. All but one. A large, deep blue dragon roared, causing pieces of metal to fly up out of the ground and out of the rubble. Ryusei felt the dread of realization sweep over him.

_H-Hold on a minute… that… that can’t be-! Melusine…?_

The other girl, the one Ryusei didn’t know, winced. “It was the best I could do. Anything denser and they would break free.”

Shiro’s voice shook. “Now we… how do we… take the next step?’

Tadatomo focused on something beyond them. Asuka turned at the same time as Ryusei. Standing in the destroyed lounge, standing tall despite the walls around it crumbling, was a door bearing the number 0.

There was a weary smile across the unknown girl’s face. “Now you see the real reason I had you wear those bracelets. If I open the number zero door and don’t go through with you, your artifacts will be overloaded in the same way I described earlier. Your deaths would be… guaranteed.”

Ryusei froze, his eyes focused on the bracelet on Ahab’s wrist. He could just make out the number **3**.

_D-Deaths…? S-She can’t mean…_

Shiro, Tadatomo, Shuichi, and Alice all looked nervously at each other and walked forward toward the door.

“No!” Asuka tried to run forward, but Ahab grabbed her from behind, holding her as tight as he could.

“Easy there, brat. There ain’t nothin’ ye can do.”

_Captain…? Why are you stopping her-!?_

“No! No, I can’t… I can’t accept that. There has to be another way! There’s always another way! Let me go!” She struggled and fought, but Ahab’s grip stayed firm. “Please…” Asuka choked out, tears running down her face. “Please don’t do this….”

Alice stepped forwards toward the door, and the girl dressed in a long black robe- Akane- moved her hand in front of it so it slid open. Alice took a look back at Asuka. Her hands were shaking, clutched around the rabbit she always had with her.

_Alice… Alice please, please don’t do this… what’s wrong with all of you?!_

“I am sorry, Asuka. Your life did not need to be this difficult. Please, forgive me. Forgive us.” She then stepped through the door. Akane withdrew her wrist, and the door closed. Alice’s bracelet beeped, and her rabbit immediately turned black. It sprang from Alice’s hands, sharp razors coming out its arms. Then, in a matter of seconds, the rabbit sliced Alice into pieces and fell back to the floor with a wet thud. It was now stained red, and Alice was nowhere to be seen.

Ryusei didn’t even try to say anything- _couldn’t_ try to say anything. All his thoughts seemed to halt in their tracks. The brutality of it, seeing Alice ripped to the tiniest shreds faster than he could comprehend chilled him to his very core.

“No… No! Alice!” Asuka struggled harder against Ahab, but he wouldn’t budge. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and it looked like the energy that had been with her earlier was starting to fade. “Please let me go… please let me do something…”

Tadatomo took a step toward the door. “I’m sorry that you have to see this, my liege. Forgive me.”

_A-Again…?_

Asuka’s eyes widened and she screamed as he, too, stepped forward through the 0 door. His bracelet beeped just like Alice’s, and he started sweating. A second later and he was on the ground, screaming and clutching his stomach. His torment was short-lived, as his screaming eventually stopped. His body was now charred black, evidently burnt like a fire from the inside. His body disintegrated like fine ash.

Despite not having a body, Ryusei could feel the heat, could smell the horrible smell of burnt fur. If he had a stomach, he knew he would have thrown up.

Asuka’s knees buckled beneath her, and Ahab helped her gently to the ground. He expression was one of defeat, tears spilling forward from her eyes. Despite being held so close by Captain Ahab, she looked well and truly alone, like the very world had forsaken her.

_This… this is why…_

Shuichi clasped Shiro on the shoulder. “I really do wish you had joined our guild, though I admit that you have a fine guild master. You would have gone far!” He let go and stepped toward the door, but Shiro grabbed him. Asuka twitched slightly as if begging for something, anything, to happen.

“Let’s go together, Shuichi. I… I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do this on my own.”

Asuka’s eyes went wide with shock. She didn’t appear to even notice the tears falling from her unblinking eyes.

_This is why you think… the bluebird has flown away already…_

Shiro turned to face Asuka, tears streaming in rivulets down his face. “I’m sorry, Asuka. If there’s one thing you’ve taught me, it’s that I should always do the right thing. And this… I’ve decided that this is the right thing to do. Please… live on, for us.”

Together, they stepped through the zero door. Ryusei watched as bits and pieces of Shuichi turned to numbers and flowed into his tablet, watched as his skin, muscles, organs, and bones disappeared until all that was left was his sacred artifact. Shiro’s book, meanwhile, floated into the air. Swarms of giant devils came out and, with sickening crunching noises, ate Shiro, leaving behind not even a scrap of his clothing.

Ryusei felt as if his heart would burst. Shiro, one of the first people he had ever even known, died like that… right in front of him. Right in front of Asuka.

His numb gaze turned toward Ahab. The captain carefully let go of Asuka, causing her to slump forward. She grabbed out with her hand, even though there was nothing in front of her. Her face was a slick mess.

_Ahab please… please don’t do this… can’t you see-_

“Watch out!”

Before Ahab reached the door, Akane leaped forward and pushed Ahab, then screamed in pain. One of the blasts of wind must have caught a piece of debris, which sailed into the room and landed directly on Akane’s legs- and crushed the zero door.

_So… he’s safe… haha, he’s safe!_

Asuka blinked, a look of shock turning into an expression of hope, matching the feeling Ryusei had in his chest.

“C-Captain, you know what you have to do,” Akane said, her voice straining under the pain of having her legs crushed.

_Oh no…_

The scene with four bloody harpoons embedded in the floor- the same thing he had seen in front of that fountain- came to mind.

Ahab smiled at Asuka and picked up his harpoon.

_…No… please don’t… Captain!_

“Out of all the sailors I’ve had, I’ve never grown close ta anyone like I did ye, Asuka. I… I always pushed everyone away, tryin’ to keep them from formin’ a bond with me- but ye stuck by me. Before that infernal DJ became that monster,” He looked up to the sky, staring at the 8 exceptions, “he told me that there was a good chance that ye wouldn’t remember anythin’ of what happened here- that Zero has some sort a’ plan for that. I don’t know how that’ll happen, but…” He turned away, a single teardrop falling down onto the rubble beneath his feet. “Whatever world is waitin’ fer ye, things will be different. Ye and I may not share the same relation we did here. I think... that’s fer the best. I’m not asking ye to forgive me, but please… forget this selfish captain.”

He took one last look at Asuka, whose face was falling even more, her eyebrows raising and her mouth opening. He then raised his harpoon in his left hand and brought the point down on his right arm, piercing the bracelet and his wrist.

Ryusei said nothing, thought nothing, feeling as if his heart had stopped entirely. The world felt still, frozen in time. As if the world could not continue.

“NOOOOOOO!” Asuka screamed, tears pouring down her face. She was breathing heavy, clutching her head. She watched on, unable to tear her eyes away from her beloved captain.

Ahab’s bracelet beeped. A harpoon, just like the one he had impaled himself with, shot out from nowhere, shooting through his right leg into the ground, pinning him in place. Another harpoon caught him through his left arm, forcing him to the ground.

He turned his head to take one last look at Asuka, giving her a final smile. Ryusei knew the expression well- it was a smile filled with love.

“Forget me... my cute sailor.”

Asuka cried out as one final harpoon shot out, stabbing him through his heart. Ahab fell back against the harpoons, which refused to let his body fall.

Captain Ahab was dead.

Ryusei shuddered then opened his eyes. He was back in the captain’s cabin, lying uncomfortably on the ground. His breaths were rapid and labored, his body burning hot. He propped himself up on the table, dragging himself to his feet. He clutched his heart, feeling it beat far faster than it had ever before.

“A-Asuka… you’re here, aren’t you? That… that was all what happened to you, wasn’t it?”

He waited, his body moving up and down as he breathed hard. He wiped his sweaty brow, nervously glancing out the window. Then, he heard a voice in his head- a voice that wasn’t his own.

_Yes, I am… and yes, it was._

Ryusei said nothing, walking over to the door. He could feel her inside him. It was extremely uncomfortable, like something was pushing on him from the inside. He quietly opened the door and stepped outside.

Carefully, leaning against the wall, he staggered over to the deck. The cool wind was soothing on his skin, but the pushing feeling was only getting stronger. He could pick out pieces of Asuka’s memories now. He knew why Zero- why Akane did all that, he knew why everyone agreed to die, and… he knew how she felt.

_It hurts._

Ryusei clutched his heart. “...It does. How could you stand it?”

_I… couldn’t. I-I severed myself from my body- from the body you have now. I didn’t necessarily mean to… but my rule must have reacted to my wishes. All I wanted was to just stop thinking about it. That I could forget about him- like he wanted. Even so… please, Ryusei. Please let me talk to him._

“What? How? Should I relay what you want to say or…?”

_If you let me in, I can talk on my own._

“Really?”

_...I think so? I haven’t actually tried before. Every time I get close to some… timeline…? Er, where he and my counterpart are close, there’s always been something that… reminds me of that night._

“Scary. That didn’t happen this time? I mean, there was that bottle earlier…”

_Nah. Something kept me around here, though I’m not sure what. It’s like… like someone remembered me. Someone was trying to hold onto me._

“Do you mean Captain Ahab? He mentioned that he remembered your name back before the barrel incident.”

_T-The what?_

“Er… nothing! It’s nothing! Uh… I guess we don’t totally share memories, then.”

_I think it’s just that you got my memories, sorry. Maybe it’s cause I spent some time in the Morphogenetic Field? I guess when you’re surrounded by nothing but information, you learn to filter things out, haha. Though… maybe I can try and see if I can’t see what this “barrel incident” is? Hold still._

“H-Hey, hold on! I don’t-!”

Ryusei felt an odd probing sensation in his brain. Then, it stopped.

_…_

“Uh… you found it, didn’t you.”

_Yes._

Ryusei’s cheeks flushed harder than they already were. “I, er, in my defense, my plan totally worked in the end.”

_…Well, you’re not wrong. Your plan was hilariously flawed to begin with though._

“Nuh-uh.”

_Right._

There was a small pause, then-

_…Dear lord, Ahab is so hot. You got any more of those in there?_

Ryusei scoffed. “And they tell _me_ that I have a single track mind!”

_Technically, I am you._

“Details, details.”

They were interrupted by the familiar sound of someone walking up the ramp leading to the ship. Someone who only had one leg, whose other leg was a metal prosthetic.

The breath caught in Ryusei’s throat.

“Captain-!”

_A-Ahab!_

Ryusei took a step forward, then stopped, feeling a pulse course through him. He doubled over, clutching at his chest- it felt like his heart would burst out.

“W-What are… you doing…!?”

_I’m sorry, Ryusei. I… I have to do this. I need… my own happy ending!_

“Asuka, no-!”

//

Ahab stepped aboard, first noticing the way his door was ajar. His ears perked up as he heard the sound of someone falling on the deck. Ahab ran as fast as he could toward the source. When he reached the deck, he found Ryusei standing there holding his head.

Ahab walked toward him. “Ryusei?” He called, “Ye alright? Ye didn’t get into any o' the alcohol, did ye? I told ye not to-”

Ryusei put his hands down and straightened up, looking directly at him.

“Heh. Captain, you haven’t changed a bit.”

Ahab stopped. The words coming out of Ryusei’s mouth were in his voice, but there was something else there- like someone was speaking behind him. Ahab’s eye was drawn to a familiar bright blue flower woven into his hair.

This wasn’t Ryusei.

“...Asuka,” Ahab muttered, his eye going wide, “It’s really… ye…”

Ryusei’s eyes- Asuka’s eyes teared up. “So… you really do remember? How much do you… do you know?”

Ahab shook his head. “I… I don’t have everythin’. The only memories I have involvin' ye are the ones from that game. Anythin’ before that is gone. I’m sorry.”

“I… I see.”

“Is Ryusei in there?”

The question seemed to catch Asuka off guard. “Y-Yeah. He is. I can hear him inside my… well, inside his head.”

Ahab stared at them, conflicted.

“Lass, I… I’m sorry.”

Asuka, still piloting Ryusei’s body, walked forward. She raised his hands in a hug, but Ahab grabbed his shoulder. Ryusei’s eyes widened.

“Captain?”

“Ye know what’ll happen ta him, don’t ye.”

Asuka was silent.

“Ye’re goin’ ta replace him. If ye keep this up, Ryusei ain’t goin’ to exist anymore.”

Asuka looked off to the side then whispered, “...So what.”

“What’s that?” Ahab said, his eye opening wide.

Asuka wrenched herself free from the captain’s grip, her face- Ryusei’s face- was filled with a wave of desperate anger. “So what! It’s not fair, none of this is! Why did I… why did I have to be turned into some martyr against my will!? There isn’t a single timeline- not a single one where I’m happy. Don’t you get it?” Her voice was breaking through Ryusei’s now, turning his into the backdrop. Furious tears were running down her cheeks. “Because of that stupid game, I’m stuck. I’m stuck! I don’t… I don’t even have any _choice._ I’m just… doomed to spend all of eternity, watching other people, seeing other people have something I can _never_ have. So what if I replace him!? Why can’t I just… why can’t I just be-”

She cut off as Ahab stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her. “Asuka. I know ye went to hell and back but… before all of this happened, I knew one thing. I loved ye, Asuka. Aye, I guess… I still do.”

Asuka stopped talking, taking in loud shuddering gasps. “C-Captain, I-”

Ahab slowly let her go, then grabbed onto her shoulders. She now had the form he remembered- long dark hair and all. He knew it was getting close.

“Even still. This ain’t yer time. This ain’t yer home, it’s his. Just as much as I loved ye, I also love Ryusei. If anythin’ were ta happen to him… I wouldn’t be able to forgive meself. That’s… the same thing I thought back when Akane was explainin’ everythin’.”

Asuka stepped back, her eyes wide. “B-But… oh, Ahab, what am I supposed to do?” she asked pleadingly.

Ahab averted his eyes, then looked directly at her. “I don’t know, kid. Trust me, I wish things weren’t like this- for yer sake. But it ain't. Please, Asuka… ye can’t stay here.”

Asuka sighed shakily then, in the blink of an eye, reverted back to how Ryusei looked. “Heh. You know, Ryusei, you’re a lucky guy. You are too, Captain. I just… all I wish is that things could have turned out different. I… I’m sorry, you’re right.” She paused, taking in a raspy breath and smiling at Ahab with the same smile he had shown her that fateful night. A tender smile filled with love.

“Goodbye… Captain.”

With that, Ryusei fell to the floor. The blue flower that had been in his hair turned to golden sparks, floating away in the wind. At the same moment, Ahab himself felt an odd tingling sensation in his head, but it was gone just as soon as it came.

“Hey, kid. Ye alright?” Ahab asked, propping Ryusei up.

Ryusei opened his eyes and stared up at the older man’s concerned face. “Don’t worry, Captain. She’s gone.” He turned his head away. “...I hope she finds some way to get a happy ending. She felt so… alone.”

Ahab smirked, trying to hide the confused mix of relief and grief he felt. “Heh. She tries ta shove ye out and ye’re goin’ ta defend her? Ye’re an odd one, kid.”

_Clap. Clap. Clap._

Santa stepped up behind them, slowly clapping. “Well done. It actually worked for once, see?”

He held up his arm- the bracelet was gone.

“Hmph. Where’d it go?”

Santa shrugged. “Once there’s been some important change that directly affects other timelines, it locks itself out from me- or, that’s what I hear, anyway. Don’t have a damn clue how most of this shit works. Nice to meet you, I won’t be seeing you again. Have fun with your barrels and paperclips or whatever it is your dumbass has planned.”

He walked off, whistling the same tune that belonged to the music box Ahab had given Benten at that one Christmas party- _Morphogenetic Sorrow_. It soon faded away, and Santa disappeared from sight.

“Is it… over? And… who was that?” asked Ryusei.

Ahab nodded and pulled out a pipe, leaning back against the hull of the ship. “Aye, I think that’s really it. That brat called himself ‘Santa.’ He be the one who gave Ganglie those bottles. Somethin’ tells me there’s more to everythin’ that went on, but… I think our part is done.” He blew out a ring of smoke. “Hmph. How am I going to explain this to Aegir? Maybe I should just make somethin’ up.”

“Eh, no harm in telling him the truth,” Ryusei said, then stood up. “Wow, I feel loads better now!”

He walked over to Ahab, leaned down, and kissed him on the top of his head. Ahab’s cheeks grew red. He held out his hand, and Ahab took it.

“Well then,” Ryusei said jovially, pulling Ahab to his feet. “How about a drink, eh?”

“...I think I’d rather just take a nap.”

Ryusei grinned. “Ah, good idea-”

Ahab glared at him out of the corner of his eye. “After what ye pulled last night, ye can take yer own nap in a cabin, brat.”

“Aw… come on, you have to admit my plan was pretty good…”

//

_Agh… my head…_

Eko opened her eyes and got to her feet, thoroughly disoriented. The last thing she remembered was all the light going out, then Christine’s voice, then some odd smell…

_Were we… knocked out?_

“G-Gah, this is so not cool…”

Eko turned around to see Benten picking herself up off of the floor. They made eye contact then she broke it off, looking around the room.

“H-Hey, Eko. I don’t suppose you know where we are this time, do you?”

Eko looked around, taking in her surroundings. To put it in a simple term- it was like a defunct casino. The dark red flooring was scuffed and torn at parts, the dark walls were hidden in shadow thanks to the low lighting- several of the overhead lights were out, giving the impression that things were waiting where they could not see. Broken-down machines were arranged in arrays, many of them simply being powered down, whereas others were toppled over or mangled like someone had taken a bat and gone to town on it. Shiny plastic chips were scattered across the floor all around the machines, though none more so than a particularly large circular machine with a cracked button in the middle fixed to the wall. On the far end of the room was a fancy mahogany door with a golden built-in lock attached to it. The lighting beside it was especially poor, but it appeared as if there was… _something_ in the midst of the darkness. Finally, there was a pool table in the middle of the room with what looked like a metal slab on top of it.

“Eko!” Benten gasped, pointing toward the table. “Down there, is that-”

Sticking out from behind the table was someone’s leg- wearing a familiar gray high heel. Eko felt a chill run down her spine as Benten ran up to the table. Trying her best to ignore the pit of dread in her stomach, Eko followed suit.

_Maybe she’s just… Still asleep…?_

“Hey, Christine!” Benten called, slowing down as she neared her form as if dreading what she could find. “I-It’s time to get up, yeah?”

From their point of view as they approached, it looked as if she were merely sleeping- her hair was obscuring parts of her face, and her hat was lying crumpled on the floor beneath her. Her fancy gray dress was pooled around her as if it were a sea of fabric. Despite all this, she looked, in a sense, peaceful. Then, Eko’s eyes were drawn to her hand.

The dark blue ring was off, laying next to her right hand. There were two needles sticking out from inside the loop, each stained red with blood. Eko shook as she lowered herself to the floor, drawing herself closer to Christine.

_No… how did this…_

“C-Christine!” Benten cried, falling to the floor. She grabbed Christine’s lifeless shoulders and started to shake her, a panicked expression on her face. “P-Please wake up! Come on! Y-You can’t leave us like this!”

She looked up to Eko, her panicked expression meeting Eko’s shaken one. Eko winced, putting her hand to her temple. She could feel another memory coming on. The blood drained from Benten’s face.

“Eko-!”

_The sound of screaming, of sirens, thunder, and lightning blasted in her ears. Up in the sky, far above her, were 8 beings. Extending from one of them was a familiar pair of blue, dragon-like wings._

Eko breathed in deep, trying to keep herself from shaking. She opened her eyes, trying to force herself to recognize that Christine’s dead body was right before her, trying her best to ignore the feelings coming from the other soul that she knew now existed within her- feelings of familiarity and fear.

“I’m sorry, Benten,” she said, then leaned down stiffly and picked up Christine’s discarded ring. Eko looked at the other girl, whose eyes were fixed on her.

She noticed that she was staring, then stood up. “C-Captain told me something like… something like that might happen. You doing… that. He said to keep an eye on you and… and to help if it happened but I-I didn’t know what to do!”

Eko breathed out a shaky sigh and stood up as well, carefully putting the ring into her pocket.

“And so… we now reach the gripping conclusion to this act. I commend you two, I really do.”

Eko’s blood turned to ice, whipping around to Christine’s body. It was as still and lifeless as it had been.

_But-! That was Christine’s voice! I’m sure of it!_

“C-Christine!? Don’t tell me you’re a ghost, ‘cause that’d seriously piss me off,” Benten yelled, her eyes darting all around the room.

Christine’s ethereal voice sounded as if it were coming from all around them.

“Should everything have gone according to plan, then you will have found the shell I left behind- that is to say, my corpse. I trust the two of you are more than strong enough to push past my untimely demise and solve this puzzle.”

Eko’s face dropped, recognizing that this had to have been a recording. She had no strong attachment to Christine- but this was one of the only eight people she even knew. Two of them- a full fourth of everyone she was familiar with- were dead.

“The role I play in this situation that lies before you is that of the victim, while you two will work together as the keen sleuths who uncover the details surrounding this most unfortunate tragedy. When you have uncovered the truth, place the ring upon the finger of the culprit.”

The space next to that door earlier lit up with a pale blue light, revealing a bar with three human-like forms. From the looks of them, however, they just appeared to be mannequins. One of them- a woman- stood behind the bar, wiping a glass. Two men sat in front of the bar, one of them leaning forward and the other seemingly asleep.

The recording continued.

“As I am sure you will make the connection sooner or later, I will just tell you now- these circumstances of this case… exist only within the realm of fiction. I freely and willingly gave up my life.”

_What?_

There was a soft chuckle, then she continued, “After all, the show must go on. I look forward to the day where we meet again.”

A click echoed through the room, and the room turned silent of everything but the hum of the bar’s light. Eko turned and looked at Benten, then warily took a step back from Christine’s body.

“She… killed herself?” asked Eko, gripping her own shoulder. A swarm of questions was running through her mind, the chief of which being a simple _why?_

“W-What gives!?” yelled Benten, clenching her fists. “I swear, if she weren’t dead then I would kill her myself.” She turned away from Christine’s corpse, surveying the room.

“What’s wrong, Benten?” asked Eko. She was fondling the candy Ryota had given her in much the same way that one would touch a precious heirloom.

Benten folded her arms impatiently. “Hmph. Let’s just get this over with. I don’t want to have to put up with someone like her anymore. If she wants to be a… a piece of this _play_ , then that’s her thing. Besides, if what those old coots said is true, then we need to get you out of here-” She stopped herself as if she only just realized what she was talking about.

Eko tilted her head, looking curiously toward her. “You mean the captain and Ded? What did they say about me?”

“N-Nothing. Come on, forget about it! We have more, uh, important stuff. How about we split up and look around?”

Eko nodded, trying her best to ignore Christine’s body all the while. She then turned away and walked over to the other side of the pool table, standing before the metal slab. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched it. Nothing happened. Judging by the way it would not budge, the plate must have been firmly attached to the pool table.

Benten stepped closer, poking at something small on the side of the slab. “What do you think this is? A light? Maybe this thing can be turned on somehow.”

Eko’s unsurprised eyes drifted over to Benten. “Weren’t you the one who said we should split up?”

Benten balked. “What? Clearly, you misheard me! Why would we split up in a place as creepy as this, huh?” She shook her head as if this had been obvious. “Honestly, Eko- huh?”

She looked closer at the metal plate, pulling her hand back. Eko leaned forward as well, spotting a few dark specks of something a deep red- blood. She reached out and poked at it. It was still a little wet. Eko looked at her hand, then wiped it on the pool table.

_What would blood be doing here?_

“Jeeze, Eko. That was metal! You, I mean. I guess the plate is pretty metal too.”

“I guess,” she replied, turning to Benten. “I’m pretty sure that’s blood. And… if I had to guess, it’s probably hers. I just wonder…”

Benten clapped her on the shoulder, making her flinch. “Well, let’s get back to that later. And more importantly, let’s check out… somewhere else! Yeah,” she said, looking around the room until her eyes locked onto the heavily damaged machine Eko had noticed earlier. “How about that? It’s so broke that it’s gotta be important. Trust me!” She then led Eko away toward the machine.

“What’s this thing for, anyway?” Eko asked, examining it closer. The machine consisted of a huge circular frame attached to the wall with a boxy base jutting out from the bottom. There were disabled, shattered lights surrounding the outside of the circle. Large chunks of whatever covering it once had were torn away, and even the frame of it was heavily dented- as if someone had a particular vendetta against this specific machine.

Benten touched her hand to the cracked red button on the top of the base. “Hmm, you don’t know? This has got to be one of those spin-to-win games you can find at arcades and stuff. They’re usually pretty easy to beat if you have good timing. Just hit the button at the right time and you can get easy jackpots! I’m a master of these games, y’know.”

“But… this is a casino, isn’t it? Why would they include something like that here?” Eko asked. “If you had good timing, wouldn’t the casino just lose all the time?”

Benten smacked the button, causing absolutely nothing to happen. She glared at the broken down machine. “I dunno, maybe it was rigged somehow. Whoever did this must have hated this thing though.” She squatted down, rifling through all the coins scattered around the machine.

Eko squatted next to her, picking up one of the coins. On one side was the number 2, and on the other was the number 0. She looked at the bracelet on her wrist, which had the same number 2 on it.

_Hm. I wonder if that’s why the two asterisks popped up earlier?_

Benten glanced over, dropping the coin she was holding. “Hold on, what’s that?”

“Hm? Oh, right.” Eko gripped the bracelet that refused to budge. “Ded and I had to put them on in order to leave the room we were in.”

“And you can’t take ‘em off? What in the hell?”

Eko shrugged, then kept sifting through the coins- something in there had reflected the light oddly. “I’m… not sure. When I put it on, it lit up with this number. Ded’s had the number 1, though.”

“Jeeze, that’s messed up. What if there’s a bomb in there?”

Eko blinked at her. “What?”

“It could happen!”

“Er… right. Whatever you say,” Eko replied, then kept digging through the coins.

“What are you looking for, anyway?”

“I, uh, I don’t know. Something looked weird earlier- ah. Here we go.”

Eko reached into the pile of golden coins and picked out a thin golden key. She held it out to Benten, who took it.

“Hm! Damn, you’ve got a nice eye. This’ll probably unlock that door over next to the bar. Maybe we can find… something, wherever that goes. Pick it up, Eko!”

“Ah- right.” Eko followed after her, barely managing to avoid tripping over the toppled machines.

_What even happened here…?_

“I swear, I’m gonna murder Zero if they ever show their nasty face around me! You with me, Eko?”

“Eh? Er, right, I guess.”

They reached the door and Benten stuck the key in, turning it with an audible click. The hallway beyond was dark and dingy, smelling of mold and mildew. After taking some long and winding turns, they arrived at a room lined with computers and file cabinets. The room may once have appeared quite lavish, but now it was in disrepair. Various velvety chairs, pillows, and blankets were littered around the room. Curtains that hung on walls were ripped, torn, and faded. There were large gashes in each of these, spilling out feathers and foam all across the ground. Many of the monitors were destroyed, but a few of them glowed with life.

“Damn,” muttered Benten, “what happened here? This really isn’t my style.”

Eko stepped into the room, doing her best to avoid the debris. “Let’s see if we can find anything in here.”

“On it!” Benten saluted, then they got to work.

They didn’t find a whole lot inside the room- nearly everything was destroyed, other than a couple folders, a newspaper article, those few computers, and a safe. She leaned down and started fiddling with the dial.

Benten looked up from the newspaper article she was reading. “Hey, Eko! This stuff is pretty wild- huh? What’re you doing?”

“Hoping the safe will just randomly open.”

Benten nodded, then looked back down at the article she was reading. “Well, whatever then. Check this out!”

She cleared her throat, then read aloud:

“After Professor- sorry it’s torn there- daughter passed away due to a terminal illness, witnesses say that he swore revenge against those that wronged him. Since then, he has vanished. Due to the cryptic and threatening nature of his words, authorities have been on the lookout for him, but he has yet to show his face. If you know- torn again- there is a possibility that you are in imminent danger.”

She looked up to Eko. “That’s pretty crazy, it’s like a revenge story! You think it has anything to do with this?”

Eko nodded. “Knowing Zero? Of course it does. I’m guessing whoever they’re talking about is the one that committed the murder- who… who killed Christine.” She shook her head, trying to dispel her thoughts. “Let’s keep looking, maybe we can find out something about them, or… maybe even why they did it.”

Benten frowned, then stuffed the article into her pocket. “Right.”

Benten sat down at one of the computers and started clicking around while Eko looked through the only readable files she could find. Most of these files were financial files, listing off some names along with their earnings and losses. Eko’s eyes scanned through the page until she reached a set of results from someone whose name was angrily scratched out with ink. It showed a string of gains, getting a massive sum of money- and the very last result showed them losing every last bit of it.

_Why would they gamble everything on that?_

Just as she shut the documents, Benten hit a button, bringing up some sort of brochure. The two of them were silent as they read through it.

**Indulge in the whims of fate, take a gander at what destiny the future holds for you! At Christine’s Casino, we play by some special rules. The games are quick, fun, and easy. To make millions here would be nothing but trivial! However- be forewarned. Admission is steep, and only a once in a lifetime opportunity. Once you leave, you may never return. Don’t let yourself get too carried away… or you may just lose it all.**

“Sounds shady,” Eko said.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t touch this thing with a 10-foot pole,” Benten agreed. “There’s no way this place ain’t rigged to hell and back.”

Eko folded her arms. “I guess that’s what happened to the culprit, then. Those records over there say that he lost it all. Maybe he was banking on this place to help save his daughter?”

“You think so?” Benten stood up, stretching her arms. “Man, that sucks.”

Eko nodded, then turned to leave. “Let’s try going back, maybe we can find something else. Until we find something that lets us get into that safe, there isn’t anything else to do here.”

While they were on their way back, Eko folded her arms and asked, “So, Benten, you said the, er, _old coots_ told you something about me?”

Benten jumped a bit, then looked off to the side. “Er, yeah…” She sighed, then gave up. “Alright, fine. They didn’t tell me why, but they said that something was… wrong with you. Like if we didn’t get out of here soon, then you… you’d…”

“Die?”

She shook her head. “Not that. It was more like you would stop… existing. I don’t know. Captain told me to be careful about what I say, but… but how am I supposed to know what would set you off!? I swear, he didn’t tell me anything!” She frowned then added, “He also said to help you if you… do that, but… like I said, when it happened- I didn’t know what to do…”

Eko gripped her shoulder harder. “It’s fine, Benten, really. I don’t even know what sets it off.”

“Well then, no point just talking about it!” shouted Benten, filling up the hallway with her voice as if she were trying to personally drown out any worries the two of them might be feeling. “The sooner we get outta here, the sooner we can breathe some fresh air! It ain’t my style to be cooped up here for so long. And!” she added, turning around to walk backward while facing Eko. “And once we’re out of here, I’ll bully- er, I mean _convince_ Ebs to let us have the restaurant all to ourselves! Well- we could invite the captain too, maybe a few of the others as well. It’ll be great, you’ll see!” Benten grinned, holding up her fingers in a V.

Eko smiled and did the same. “That sounds great. Thanks, Benten. But, er, who’s ‘Ebs?’”

“He’s- ah, never mind. I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of meeting him again!” She turned around and stepped back into the main area. “So then, what else should we investigate?”

Eko looked around the room, her eyes landing on the bar area. “How about we look at the suspects?”

They stepped closer and Benten poked one of them- a bitter looking man who was holding a glass in one hand, one finger outstretched. Just as Eko had presumed, he was nothing more than a mannequin. The other two looked different but were also clearly mannequins. On the other side of the bar was a man slumped over, his hand reaching out over the bartop.

“Gah, Sleepy here looks like he’s had one too many drinks. I bet you could drink him under the table without even trying.”

Eko glanced at her while checking the pockets of the bartender- a lady mannequin in a rather spiffy vest. There was something familiar about her long, brown hair- just something that put her on edge. Perhaps the white flower ornaments in that wig? “Huh, Ryota said something about me drinking earlier. Am I that bad?”

“Bad?” Benten laughed, leaning on the man holding the drink and nearly toppling him over. “Ack-! Er, nah, you’re hilarious when you’re drunk. I swear, if we didn’t stop you and the captain, you would have drunk everything aboard the ship- and he’s got some _strong_ stuff. You’re all like ‘fight me!’ and ‘think you can take me!?’ and stuff. It’s really funny. Hell, if we wanted to we could totally weaponize it, just have you chug a bottle of whiskey and point you at our enemies. You go absolutely _wild_ and it’s honestly a little scary, but also kinda incredible.”

Eko pulled a plastic card out of her pocket, still chatting with Benten. “Yeah? Maybe I’ll have something to drink once we… once…” Her hand shook, staring down at the card she was holding. She tried her best to hold it back, but-

_Zero sighed and, in a move none of them expected, lowered their hood and unclasped the gas mask, letting it fall to the floor. Brown hair tumbled down past her shoulders, adorned with white flower ornaments. She stared at the 9 of them in turn, her eyes finally settling on her._

_She looked over the nine of them once more, then smiled- despite the niceness of the gesture, her expression was tainted with profound sorrow._ _  
_ _“My name is-”_

**Akane Kurashiki**

Eko came to, realizing that Benten was calling out her name and shaking her. “T-This bartender-”

Benten’s eyes darted to the flower in Eko’s hair, then she relaxed a little- though she still looked quite worried. “Hey, you feeling ok?” She let go of Eko then ran her fingers through her blue hair. “Agh- It’s happening again!” She grabbed the card out of Eko’s hands. “‘Morphogenetic?’ What are these numbers…? And who’s this girl?”

She was pointing at a picture on the ID.

Eko winced and stepped away from the bar. “That must be… Akane Kurashiki. She ran the… the last Nonary Game.”

“What!? There was another one of these!?” Benten gasped, her face turning pale.

Eko sat down on the floor and explained everything she had found out from Ded, Ahab, and the memories she kept getting. She told her about how she kept remembering things, about how she found papers that talked about a previous game with Ahab, Nyarlathotep, and whatever soul was taking residence inside her. She talked about the nonary game ages in the past- to which Akane must have been a part of. She even went over the _Morphogenetic Field_ , or all that she knew of it, in any case.

“This Akane,” Eko said while holding the card, “she was the ‘Zero’ of that game. I’m sure of it.”

Benten nervously fiddled with her biwa. “Even if all that is true, why would she want to make another one?”

Eko looked over toward Christine’s deceased body, then shut her eyes. “I… I don’t know. Whatever happened, it couldn’t have been good.”

“Sounds like it,” Benten said in awe.

Eko rose to her feet then helped Benten up. “Come on, let’s keep looking around. Maybe there’s something we missed.”

“Hmm…” Benten hummed, thinking to herself. Then, she snapped and pointed at the table in the middle of the room, next to where they had found Christine’s body. “What about that metal plate over there?”

“Ah, right. That thing exists. Sure, why not?” Eko walked over toward the table, stiffening up slightly when she saw Christine.

_…_

She turned away and stood in front of the slab of metal, the red stains of Christine’s blood still on top of it.

_Assuming this is actually from her, why would Christine’s blood wind up right here? I suppose it’s possible that she somehow activated the ring while over here, but nothing happened earlier._

Eko reached out and put her hand down on the metal plate. Almost immediately, Benten halted what she was doing. She was looking at something on the side of the plate.

“The… the light’s on now?”

**Shnk-!**

“W-What…?” Eko whispered, lifting her shaking hand. The needles retracted, having deposited their deadly cargo directly into Eko herself, then the ring slipped off her finger and onto the floor. The poison surged through her and her legs buckled beneath her, making her collapse to the floor.

“EKO!” Benten screamed, rushing to her side.

Her vision started to go dark around the edges. Her eyes shook as she felt herself get weaker and weaker. Benten’s voice was turning into nothing but noise. She could feel her mouth move of its own accord, but she couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Benten nodded, her eyes wide with fear, and unstrapped her biwa from her back. As she strummed, she felt something within her move- and the symptoms she felt started to vanish.

_W-What’s… going on…?_

Eko couldn’t help but relax to the melodic sound vibrating from Benten’s instrument. Flashes of blue light were pulsing around her as a clear liquid fell from Eko’s punctured finger. After a few minutes, she came to a stop.

Benten propped her up. “Eko? A-Are you there?”

Eko breathed out a deep sigh and lifted her finger. Not only did it feel like everything that had been pumped into her was gone, but the puncture wounds themselves were gone.

“How’d you do that?”

Benten strapped her biwa to her back again, avoiding eye contact. “I-I… you don’t know? What my rule is? It’s the ability to… divert the _flow_ of things. I just… diverted the poison.”

Eko, now thoroughly bewildered, questioned this. “I lost my memory, remember? How would I know-”

_Oh._

Benten clenched her hands together. “I thought- I thought you were gone, but… it was weird. You shouted at me to use my rule. To… to _save her_.”

“You mean, I referred to myself as _her_?”

“I-I don’t think that was _you_. I think that… whoever is inside you… she saved your life. She must have known me.” Benten paused, leaning against the table. “I think… we must have been friends. That’s why she knew what I could do. It’s weird, ya know. Not remembering a friend…” She sighed then added, “I’m just glad you’re ok.”

Eko looked around and found her yellow ring. The two needles that had injected her must have come back out once it slipped off of her. She picked up the ring and stowed it away with Christine’s, then examined her finger closer.

“Can your rule heal me?”

Benten looked at Eko’s outstretched finger in shock. “No way! If I could do that, I’d have gotten into so much less trouble- er, I mean, not as far as I know. Whatever happened, that must have been from something inside you. Your soul is pretty weird in the first place, even without this… rando in it.”

_Hmm… and yet, she saved my life? Maybe it was just about saving herself, but then why say “save her?” Who even is she-_

Struck by an idea, Eko stood up and headed back toward the door.

“Hey! Eko, where you going? Should you be even walking around so soon??” Benten called. Eko kept on walking but held up the card. The string of numbers and letters **11315B1** were emboldened above Akane’s full name. Benten got up and followed after her.

Together, they reached the destroyed room. Eko squatted down in front of the safe and started turning the dial.

Benten sat down in one of the lesser damaged chairs. “Eh? What’s the combination?”

“1-19-21-11-1. It’s the decimal form of those numbers and letters on this card.” She said this while holding up Akane’s ID card.

Benten reached over and took it. “Hm? How do you know where to split things up?”

Eko said nothing, turning it the final time to the number 1.

_Click!_

Benten leaned forward. “Oh, it open-

“Have you ever heard the story of the two Santa Clauses?”

Eko and Benten both whipped around to see that two of the monitors were now displaying something different. On one was a view from some sort of camera looking down into a large, gray room. The floors and walls were covered in stone, but there was a lock mechanism similar to the one that Eko and Ded had used to open the door in the belfry. Ded himself was standing before the lock with his hand on the lever.

Zero’s mask filled the screen of the other monitor- it had been from here that the voice came from.

“Zero!” yelled Benten, jumping to her feet.

“It goes that a long time ago, there were 2 Santas… one of 'em wore white, and the other one wore black. The white Santa gave presents to good kids. And the black Santa played tricks on bad kids.”

“Eh?” Benten fell out of her aggressive stance, mildly confused.

Eko looked closer at the monitor showing Ded in his white form. He had pulled the lever, but rather than do anything, he was merely staring at his bracelet- the counterpart to her own. From the angle they were at, it was hard to make out. However, it appeared like there was a pink skull on top of the number 1.

Zero’s distorted voice droned on. “They went on like that for a while and eventually the black Santa's tricks started to get worse and worse. Pretty soon, the white Santa couldn't stand it anymore… And he stabbed the black Santa to death.”

In a flash of light, the unthinkable happened. Ded split into two versions of himself- the white form beside the black form. They stared at each other, their mouths open in shock. Both of them reached out shakily, putting their palms together like they were both standing before a mirror.

Duo’s voice rang out in Eko’s mind:

_“I imagine if Ded’s souls were to be separated any more than they already have, that might have some very bad effects on both of their lives. Breaking a relationship like that can be as dangerous as making one in the first place.”_

“N-No!” Eko yelled, putting her hands on the monitor she was watching.

“W-What’s going on!?” Benten asked, her fists balled up.

“Duo… Duo said that if Ded were to be split up, then s-something bad could happen to the both of them.”

The blood drained from Benten’s face. “T-Then that means…!”

The two Deds locked their fingers, and the snowflakes above their heads glowed brighter than ever before.

Zero continued, “And that's why, these days, his clothes are red. You could say that red is all that's left of the black Santa.”

“What the hell, Zero!? Stop it!” Benten cried, looking from one monitor to the other, tears forming in her eyes.

Eko felt something- an odd prodding sensation in her right hand. After a moment of fear-filled confusion, she instinctively held her palm out flat. A bright light started glowing- something fading into existence right before her.

_W-What?_

She looked back to Ded. For the briefest moment, she saw the two of them exchange a relieved smile- a smile that seemed to her like they did what they needed to do. This moment seemed to last for an eternity. Benten was crying out, the light in Eko’s palm was getting brighter, and the two old men closed their eyes. In the next instant, they faded away, leaving behind nothing but a few snowflakes, scattering in a nonexistent breeze.

“I wonder...which Santa I am. The white Santa or the black Santa..."

Benten crumpled into the chair she had left, staring blankly where Ded used to be. The light went away as if someone had merely flicked a light switch, leaving behind something freezing cold in Eko’s hand. Laying there, surrounded by a small pile of melting snowflakes, was a ring with two cyan bands running across it.

“This is… his ring…?” Eko said, feeling as if her blood were as cold as the metal itself.

The screens shut off, leaving Benten and Eko to themselves. Neither of them said anything as they took the moment to comprehend what exactly had just happened. Eko slipped the ring into her pocket alongside Christine’s and her own, clenching her mouth shut- trying her best to ignore the feelings of loss. Eko stood up, failing to ignore her shaking hands.

Benten breathed out heavily, then followed her over to the safe, each of them squatting before it to examine the contents. Eko reached in and pulled out the one thing that was inside- a slip of paper. Neither of them said anything as they read it silently.

**You know as well as I do that which I plan on doing- ruining you once and for all. I know perfectly well that you rigged those games, and that you waited until I nearly had enough to save my precious daughter, only to take the money- and her- away from me. I pray that the rest of your life will be spent in fear. However long it is that you have left, that is.**

**However, I am not so unreasonable that I would forsake you as you did me. I will give you a chance. There is a ring hidden in one of your precious machines- find it, put it on, and that shall be the key to deactivate the bomb.**

**-Farraige**

“Great,” said Benten, the fight nearly drained out of her. “What are we supposed to do with this, huh?”

Eko shook her head and stood up, pulling out her own and Christine’s rings. “Now… now we know it definitely isn’t Akane. Not that that was a stretch.”

Benten stood up, her fists trembling in rage. “So what, Zero set up an unsolvable puzzle!?”

Eko stepped out into the hallway toward the main room again, Benten following in her wake. “Not… necessarily. If I had to guess, now that I think we’ve uncovered everything… there’s one possibility that makes sense to me.”

“And that is?” Benten growled, glaring at no one in particular.

“Both of those guys must be this ‘Farraige’ man. Maybe it’s at two different points in his life- one after he lost his daughter, and the other when he’s consumed by revenge.”

“But we only have one ring! How are we supposed to- no. Zero didn’t-”

Eko nodded. “Anyone coming into this room would have three rings total, at least one attached to someone alive. No matter what, there was always the possibility that one person could escape. There would just be… a heavy price.”

Benten’s face was white as paper. “But these were tailor-made for us, weren’t they? I mean, we only had one option!”

Eko reached down and felt the lollipop in her pocket.

_That is weird. Ded’s… his room was far different from this one. And… we did get that ring from him somehow, but then…_

“Maybe,” Eko speculated, “Zero knew that you could reverse the flow of poison. I don’t know why, but… I don’t know. Let’s just get this over with.”

“...Right. I hope the others are ok,” Benten muttered.

They stepped over to the bar, Eko handing Benten Christine’s ring. Under closer inspection, they noticed that there were grooves along the fingers- the perfect depth for the ring to travel on despite the needles still sticking out. They nodded at each other, then slid the rings onto both of the men’s outstretched fingers. There was a clicking noise, and the sound of something whirring in the direction of the room they had watched Ded die in.

“So, you have discovered the truth of the case,” Christine’s disembodied voice said, echoing from all the corners of the room. “I trust both of you remain alive. I know there could be no other outcome, should you be hearing this. If everything is according to plan, then the details of this case may be trivial to you. That, I do believe, is the greatest tragedy to befall tonight.”

Eko wearily walked off toward the door, Benten following close behind. Christine’s voice continued to echo through the hallway.

“The truest tragedies that exist are not terrible because they are remembered- they exist because they are forgotten. Only by keeping that tragedy within your very heart and mind will you lessen the pain. Should only one alone be forced to bear that hurt, then it is magnified a hundred fold. You may not understand right now, but you will. Eko, when we next meet face to face, neither of us will be the same. Perhaps, on that fateful day, you may find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me.”

A click sounded out once again, and her voice cut off. Benten looked as tired as Eko felt.

At last, they reached the monitor room again. The change was obvious from the get-go, and it left Eko feeling a deep sense of loneliness.

There was a circular indent on the wall, the exact size and shape as Ded’s ring. Eko pulled it out of her pocket, knocking the lollipop Ryota had given her out as well. It landed on the floor with a clack, and Eko knelt down to pick it up.

“Eko?” Benten knelt down beside Eko, but she didn’t move. Her hand was resting over the candy, a few tears falling to the ground beneath her.

Eko’s bottom lip shook as she forced words out. “I’m… sorry, Benten. It’s just… it’s all too much. First Nyarlathotep, then Christine, and now Ded? It’s like I’m watching everyone around me fall apart, and I just- I just don’t know what to do. You all are… the only people I know. I don’t want- I didn’t want to lose any of you-”

Benten put her hand on Eko’s, forcing her to pick up the candy. “I’m not good at this touchy-feely stuff, Eko, but… somehow, I get the feeling you’ll find a way to make things right. Just hang on, ok? We’ve got to be reaching the end.” She clapped Eko’s shoulder and added, “Like I said, once we get out of here, we’re going to beat Zero’s ass! We’ll do it for all of them, and every last hit is going to be super satisfying!”

Eko looked up, seeing Benten’s fierce grin despite the wetness in her eyes. She stood up, pocketing the candy again. She wiped her eyes and held up Ded’s ring, pushing it into the slot.

The wall fell away into a dark, futuristic room with a single computer in the middle. The two of them walked in, and the wall slid shut behind them. They were locked in.

They walked cautiously up to the computer and read what it had to say.

**You have one chance, one shot to move on. Should you fail, you will be locked here.**

**You, whose echoes traverse beyond the past-**

**What is your name?**

“Benten,” Eko said, her eyes hidden in shadow, “I have a… question. Something I’ve been wondering since you saved my life.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Could your artifact change… the flow of memories?”

Benten took off her biwa and held it beside her. “Hold on, you don’t mean, like, changing the flow of the _Morphogenetic Field_ , do you?”

Eko nodded. “This girl who went through the past Nonary Game, the one whose memories are trying to crowd me out- try and use your artifact to make her memories flow into mine.”

Benten stomped her foot in a huff. “No! Why would I do that!? You can’t be serious-”

Eko rubbed her shoulder and recited:

“Only by keeping that tragedy within your very heart and mind will you lessen the pain. Should only one alone be forced to bear the pain, that hurt is magnified a hundred fold.”

Benten stepped back in shock. “T-That’s what Christine said-! You’re actually believing her!? How in the hell do you even know what she meant!?”

Eko stared sadly at the monitor. “...Whoever this is, trying to take me over, I think she’s been forced to bear her tragedy by herself for a long time. I want… to help her. Maybe I can at least share the pain she feels, so she doesn’t have to bear it all anymore.”

“But… what will happen to you?”

Eko turned to her and nodded. “I’ll be fine. I think… we can find a way to coexist. Maybe like… how Ded did. Besides,” she added, “if we don’t know her name, I don’t think we can continue any longer.”

Benten grit her teeth and turned around, her knuckles white as she gripped her biwa. Then, she turned around, a reluctant smile on her face.

As she readied her biwa, she muttered, “You just always have to do the right thing, don’t you. You ready?”

Eko nodded. “Thanks, Benten.”

She strummed on her biwa, playing a song that sounded equal parts hopeful and sad, a steady, rhythmic song that played as if with the currents of time. The vibrations of the strings made it feel as if this were really a song that exists at every point at once- never a dull moment, but never a moment where it was too overbearing.

Eko felt a tugging at her mind and willed it to come closer.

//

Asuka let herself fade back into the _Morphogenetic Field_ \- the very place she had essentially become one with. As much as she wished for something like Ryusei and Ahab had, she couldn’t. She tried her best to curl up in her incorporeal form. Looking back at where she had just returned from, she saw the two of them exchange a kiss. Asuka’s heart twinged, but she felt as if she were smiling.

_I hope… everything works out between those two. Heh, I’d love to hear the two of them talk about all that._

She turned away, and that hopeful light faded away.

_I got too greedy. I-I’m sorry, Captain._

A bright blue light flickered into existence before her. As she reached out, she could tell immediately that this was something eerily similar to what she had gone through.

_Another Nonary Game!? And these people, why are so many of them related to… and… what are Nyarlathotep and Ahab doing here!?_

She watched, panic-stricken, as things started to go wrong. She tried as hard as she could to push forward, to get in as she did with Ryusei.

She felt parts of her flow into the light, working their way into the girl that she now knew to be her “double” in this world. She could feel all sorts of emotions- fear, hope, sorrow, joy. And yet, there was something odd about this particular girl, something that made it easy to slip into her very soul-

_She’s so much more empty than Ryusei was. It’s like… she’s been stripped clean?_

Visions of events worked their way into her mind- of Nyarlathotep’s body drifting by, of Christine’s body laying on the floor, of Ded Moroz splitting into two and vanishing in a bright flurry of snow. Then, the sound of music blasted through all of her senses. She could hardly think. All that she could make out was a song- a sad yet hopeful song, pulling her in.

_There might just be a chance…! Please, don’t let me be too late-!_

//

“Eko, are you ok-? Woah, your flower…”

She opened her eyes to see that she was laying on the floor. Carefully, she picked herself up and turned around to see Benten looking at her, worried. She blinked.

“Benten?”

“E-Eko, is that you?”

“Yeah,” she said, then immediately added, tilting her head as if she could hear someone else talking to her, “kinda.”

She turned to the computer, and saw the question for the first time and once again.

**You, whose echoes traverse beyond the past-**

**What is your name?**

She grinned, shocking Benten.

“Woah, are you feeling- oh. Oh damn, it actually worked! Uh, who are you?”

“Well, In a sense, I’m still Eko,” she replied, then plugged in five characters into the computer and hit enter. A door opened on the far side of the room.

“But… who else is in there?”

The flower in her hair shifted, several of the petals changing red, while others turned bright blue. She turned to Benten, a broad smile on her face.

“You can call me Asuka. It’s so nice to see you again, Benten!”


	6. Echoes Beyond the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes to a head.

The two of them walked down the corridor that had just opened up. The walls were flat and featureless, and their footsteps echoed off of the metallic flooring.

Benten shot her a suspicious glance. “Sooo… Asuka? Eko? Er, Aseko? What’s going on?”

She blinked. “Aseko? Heh, I guess I can work with that. What specifically? You mean, like, what’s going on with me and, er, me?”

Benten unstrapped her biwa and started fingering something absentmindedly. “Sure, though it’d be pretty cool if you knew what was going on in general.”

“Sure, we can- that’s a long story.”

Her tone, which started out as pleasant, changed dismissive halfway through. The colors of the petals of her flower were slowly shifting- blotches of blue appearing on some places, while spots of red faded into other spots. It was constantly shifting, almost like a lava lamp. Her tie was the same, spots rising and falling along its length.

“Aseko?”

A shadow passed over her eyes. “Looks like the two of us aren’t that… ‘in sync,’ huh? -No, doesn’t seem like it.”

Benten, ignoring the disjointed manner in which Aseko was speaking, pointed forward down the hall. There was no end in sight. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got some time until we reach… wherever we’re going. Seriously, spit it out.”

Aseko awkwardly rubbed her hands together. Then, she lifted them up and stared at the back of them. On each hand was the star tattoo. After a stunned second, she folded her arms together.

“This is kinda weird,” Aseko sighed. “I actually came here from another timeline, but me and him didn’t _share_ quite as much as this. Like, body-wise. This time, it looks like parts of us were kinda… stitched together.” The pattern on the flower flipped as if it had been turned over. “That star back at the reactor, that must have been about you, wasn’t it?”

“Okay, back up,” Benten said, side-eying her. “Why’re you talking like that? It’s totally weirding me out.”

_It is weird. Back in that place with the other me, the way we communicated was more like a conversation in my head. It was? Yeah. Now, it’s like our thoughts are just…_

The flower shifted again, pigment running from one side to the other. Aseko frowned. “Hmm, I’m not sure, actually. Something weird is going on. It doesn’t feel like the two of us are that… separate…”

Aseko winced, doubling forward. A string of images flashed in her mind, but they were incoherent- as if they were overlapping, one trying to take precedence over the other.

_Nyarlathotep’s body... Ahab’s reflection Ded’s body Melusine’swings Duo’sfrownryota’scandyshiro’stearsshuichi’slaughchristine’smystery- A hotel room, a pool, lab nursery theaterbelfryweddinghallarcadeprison-_

_The number 0._

_A door-_

“STOP-!” Aseko yelled and, clutching her head, stumbled to the side, hit the wall, and fell to the floor. She quickly sat herself up, grabbing her shoulders.

“E-Eko!?” Benten cried, stooping down to help her up. She stopped, seeing the expression on her face.

She looked manic, driven mad. Her eyes were wide, darting around the hall as if there were some unknown threat she knew was coming. The bottoms of her eyes were starting to pool with tears. All the while, she was muttering-

“Not again. _Not again. Please don’t make me-_ ”

“Eko!” Benten called then grabbed her shoulders. “Aseko! Asuka- Argh, whatever your name is! Get! Ahold of yourself!” She then drew back her hand and, with a resounding-

**Slap-!**

-Benten hit her upside the head.

She waved her stinging red palm in the air. “Jeeze, that hurt!”

“W-What?” Aseko muttered, slowly raising her hand to her cheek.

“Get a grip! So what if we lost the others, huh? You heard Christine- for whatever the hell reason, she thinks we’re going to see each other again. Maybe we actually will! Maybe there’s some way to bring them all back- eh?”

Aseko’s face was blank now, but a couple of tears were running down her cheeks. She just sat on the floor, staring at Benten. Then, she opened her mouth. Her lip trembled, but she spoke as if she were broken.

“T-That’s… what I fear more than- more than anything else. You don’t know how hard it can be to- to know everyone is back, to be the only one who knows w-what really happened. Neither does… neither does she. It’s so lonely…”

She stood up rigidly like someone else was piloting her. She spoke to herself. “Even when we’re in the same body like this, I don’t know what you went through, Asuka. I can tell you’re keeping that closed off. For now, let’s keep going. You haven’t lost hope yet, have you?” She paused, the colors on the petals changing once again. And yet, she didn’t say anything else.

Benten looked at her, opened her mouth, then closed it again. She then continued on through the hallway, taking glances every now and then toward Aseko. Several minutes passed.

_Long hallway, huh? Yeah. I wonder why it goes so far. Maybe we’re on an incline?_

Finally, a door came into view. Aseko and Benten exchanged a glance, then rushed forward. It slid open as they approached, and the two stepped through.

The room ahead was far more spacious than the hallway but still wasn’t particularly big. Waiting for them were just four of the people Eko had first met- Ryota was sitting down, nervously sucking on his lollipop. He stood up, seeing Aseko walk in. Duo was surveying her and Benten, his eyes stopping momentarily on the flower in Aseko’s hair, then flicking down to her tie. Jambavan was messing with a keypad attached to the wall, though he looked preoccupied with some thought.

Captain Ahab, however, was just staring at Aseko with his eye wide. It was like he was frozen in time, his ears and tail unmoving. He slowly reached his trembling hand toward her, as if not daring her to be real.

“A-Asuka? It ain’t really ye, is it? Lass?”

The other four turned to him, confused.

Ryota took his candy out of his mouth. “Huh? Are you ok, Captain? That’s Eko- huh? Eko?”

Aseko took a step back, her eyes wide with shock. “W-Wait, how…?” She took another step back and grabbed her arms. “In that other line, I was only there _because_ you remembered… wasn’t I? So… why do you remember now?” She stopped talking, the colors in her flower shifting. “Benten, what exactly did you do?”

Benten put her hand to her chin, thinking. “Well, I used my rule to divert the flow of memories. I’ve never done anything like that before, but I’d say I did a pretty rockin’ job-”

Aseko patted her shoulder, interrupting her self-praise. “Do you know _how_ you did it?”

Benten looked from her to Ahab. “Uh, well it’s kinda complicated. I guess I did what you asked, but all I can really do is affect the flow of something. I can’t, like, make something move that wouldn’t do anything, y’know? Like… I can’t use my rule to make the captain do a funny jig.”

Ahab said nothing, still looking at Aseko in disbelief.

Benten rolled her eyes then looked back to Aseko. “Hmph! Tough crowd. Anyway, I guess that it would be possible that, when I diverted the _flow_ of the Morphogenetic Field, some information came along? You know, in the form of memories! I dunno why only some memories would come along, though.”

“Captain,” Aseko said, turning back to Ahab, “Er, it’s nice to see you again. And so soon, too!”

Ahab turned his head, looking at her curiously. “A-Are ye feelin’ ok? Last time I saw ye was…” The captain rubbed his wrist, and Aseko understood instantly.

“The only memories you got back- they’re from the first Nonary game, aren’t they? You don’t remember what happened with Ryusei…”

“W-Wait, so that first Nonary game thing definitely, _actually_ happened?” Ryota gasped.

“Seems that way,” Duo said. He glanced around at everyone. “None of you happened to see Ded, did you?”

_W-Wait, they don’t…? Does that mean Zero only showed that to us? I… don’t know._

“An odd reaction there, Eko. Or… whoever it is that you are now. Perhaps you know what happened to him.” Duo sighed then added, “In order for me to leave the escape room, he had to open up some type of lock on his side. I only had nine seconds with the door open, so I had to leave him behind. I assumed there would be another way out, but it doesn’t seem that he has made it.”

Benten deflated, sitting down with her back to the wall. She said nothing.

Aseko gulped. “We… Zero showed us what happened. Well, not me technically.” Her flower shifted slightly, the red overtaking some of the blue. “Just me and Benten.” The flower shifted back to having predominantly blue. “I’m a bit more complicated. Up until I really formed in Eko’s body, it was more like... watching a movie.”

Jambavan nervously watched the flower shift color like a floral kaleidoscope. “B-Before you go on, can you explain what’s going on with, er, you?”

Aseko shrugged. “Well, I guess we can. Obviously, Eko is in here,” she raised her left hand, showing the star tattoo, “and so is Asuka.” She then raised her right hand, revealing an identical star. “Apparently Benten kinda poured me into me. Er, into Eko. Sorry. We’re merged kinda weirdly, so our thoughts keep getting jumbled. I wish we were a bit more… distinct. Might make it easier.”

Ryota held his lollipop aloft. “Nice to meet you, Asuka!”

“It’s nice to meet you again too, Ryota!”

“Eh?” Ryota squinted at Aseko as if trying to remember who she was beyond Eko’s exterior. “I… I’m sorry, I don’t remember any Asuka.”

Aseko looked over to the side, clutching her shoulder. “...I know. That’s just… how it is. So far, the only people that have remembered me are Captain Ahab there, Eko, and a boy from another timeline. That’s all ‘cause of something I did a long time ago. Don’t worry about it.”

Jambavan went back to tapping fruitlessly on whatever pad was in front of him. Over his shoulder, he said, “So, er- I’m sorry, what should we call you?”

“Call her Aseko! Great name isn’t it?” called Benten, trying her best to muster up her usual bravado.

“Er, alright then. Aseko, do you know what happened to Ded?”

Aseko leaned back against a wall, avoiding meeting each of the gazes. With a heavy heart, she began to speak.

“Ded is… gone.”

Ryota’s lollipop slipped out of his hand, shattering into tiny pieces as it hit the ground. He didn’t even appear to notice.

Aseko continued her explanation, telling each of them what they had seen in that room- how Ded had been split into two, how he had faded away into snow, and even the part where the ring showed up in her hand.

Duo’s face paled, but he remained stoic. “Zero killed Ded like that…? How bizarre.”

“W-What do you mean?” asked Jambavan. He had forgotten all about the pad.

“Well, think about it. If Zero wanted to kill Ded, why split his soul rather than…” He trailed off, his eyes having landed on the bracelet on Aseko’s wrist. His eyebrows raised like he had realized the answer.

Ahab took notice of it. “What’s yer idea, landlubber?”

“Eko. Or, Aseko rather- your bracelet. Ded had a similar one. In his final moments, did you see anything odd about the bracelet itself?”

She looked down at her bracelet with the number 2 on it.

_Is it just me, or is it a bit brighter now? Yeah, it definitely is._

She lowered her wrist, thinking. “No, I don’t remember- I do, actually. There was something pink on the face of it. I want to say it was a skull, but the camera wasn’t close enough to make anything out. Sorry.”

Duo closed his eyes. “I see. Then his bracelet must have had something to do with splitting his soul… which leads me to one conclusion. Asuka-”

Aseko frowned. “Don’t you mean Aseko?”

Duo shook his head. “No. This is specifically toward Asuka. I believe that Zero wants you here.”

Aseko took a step back, bright blue blossoming out from the middle of the flower in her hair. “W-What?”

Duo pointed at her bracelet. “Your two bracelets are what make me think that, as well as your situation. I’m going to dumb it down so you all can follow along. Ded’s two forms were distinct and separate in the sense that they were unique. They resided in the same body, but there wasn’t so much overlap that they got confused. Asuka and Eko, meanwhile, appear to be melded into the same body. I believe that her flower and tie represent their souls, constantly flowing and mixing around the other. They’re not one and the same per se, but they are unstable- and far from distinct. If I had to guess, Asuka’s soul isn’t firmly tied here, is it?”

Aseko clenched her fists, then relaxed. “No. She- I feel like I could be pulled away at any minute.” She paused then added, “Whatever the case may be, she doesn’t want to get in too deep.”

Duo nodded. “I expected as much. For two souls to coexist in the same body, they have to be bound together. You may reside in the same body, but one will eventually force the other out. I believe you can come to a conclusion about why she refuses to get _in too deep_ , based on that.”

“S-So what does that have to do with Ded?” Ryota asked, picking up the shattered remains of his candy, wrapping it in the wrapper, and putting it into his pocket. His hands were clearly trembling. “I-I-I mean… why kill… him?”

“Let me guess,” Ahab grunted, forcing his eyes away from Aseko and looking at Duo. “It’s because Ded is the goal, ain’t it.”

Duo nodded.

“Hold up!” shouted Benten, her hands on her hips. “What’re the two of you talking about? Jambles! Explain!”

Jambavan froze up. “W-What? Why me?” He relented under the eyes of everyone. “I-I guess it might be something like a reversible reaction? T-That’s when there’s a reaction that can go both ways, you see. I guess what Duo is trying to say is that Zero split Ded in order to turn Eko and, er, Asuka was it?”

Aseko nodded.

“Ah, alright then. But, er, yeah- to turn you two into something similar. Maybe when he got split, there was some reaction that produced some sort of… energy? I can’t say I know that much about souls and stuff… maybe Mr. Lieb would understand.”

Ryota stood up, balling his fists like he were about to punch someone. “So Ded died for… what!? I don’t get it!” Tears were pooling up in the corners of his eyes. “If Ded died to- to _harvest_ some kinda soul energy, why are Eko and Asuka so messed up!? Nothing’s happened!”

Aseko took a step forward. “Ryota, please calm down.”

“Who even are you!? Are you Asuka, are you Eko? Are you both, or maybe you’re not even either of them!”

“I am Eko. I’m Asuka. I… I don’t know. Everything feels so cramped and cluttered- Maybe… if Zero planned for me to be here, then I should leave-” Her eyes bugged out and she leaned forward, clutching her head. “No. Asuka, you’re not going anywhere. I won’t let you.” She staggered again. Under her fingers, her flower was rapidly swirling, blue and red sliding past one another. “Shut up! You don’t know what Zero is capable of! Let me go! No. Yes! I won’t. Why won’t you just listen to me-!?”

“Asuka.”

_Huh?_

Aseko looked up to see Ahab standing right in front of her. “C-Captain, you know what Zero did, please! Tell her she’s wrong!”

“Ye ain’t goin’ anywhere, lass. Ye know as well as me that the world needed ye. I don’t know what happened ta ye after we… parted ways… but ye’re here now. That means there’s another chance fer ye. Eko gave ye that chance. Don’t brush her off like that, brat.”

“He’s right, you know.”

Aseko bolted upright, staring around the room. She recognized the voice instantaneously- a deep, distorted voice that filled her stomach with dread.

“You’ve all talked about this long enough. I’m surprised, you figured things out sooner than usual. You have my sincerest congratulations.”

Aseko took a step back, still looking for the source. Part of her expected to see a certain someone standing there.

_But… but she couldn’t be here, not if what she said is true…_

The voice continued. “At last, you have arrived. It sure is… something… to finally see you, Asuka. Let’s get this over and done with.”

_“Finally see?” So… it’s not Akane. Then, who?_

“You have nearly arrived at the final puzzle. The gauntlet ahead of you will lead you down a path that I am sure you would rather avoid. However, this is the way that you must go. This is the way, in multiple senses, that you have already gone-”

“Listen up, Zero!” Aseko shouted, looking around the room.

_He has to be watching us, right? Where’s the camera?_

“Whatever! It doesn’t matter how you’re watching us. If you know who I am, then you know what I did. This time, I’ll stop you!”

Zero chuckled ominously. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll do everything within your power to stop me. The question is… will she?”

_Huh?_

“As I said, the final puzzle awaits you. Asuka, Eko. Prepare yourselves.”

There was a click, and the voice cut off. Aseko’s eyes shook as she stepped over to the pad Jambavan had been messing with. On it was two stars. The other five gathered around her, each of them looking more nervous than the next.

The bear put his fingers together apprehensively. “I, uh, I thought that was a puzzle at first- well, I guess it is. Looks like only you can open it, Ek- er, Aseko.”

_You wouldn’t… betray me if it were something like “that…” There’s no way._

_“That?”_

Aseko shook her head and, without another moment’s delay, put both her hands on the pad. The screen lit up in a bright blue, and the wall next to them slid open. There was a single hallway, leading up to a circular room with three doors- Red, blue, and green.

“H-Hey, Eko- er, sorry. Aseko?” Ryota asked, walking beside her as they continued down the hall. “I just noticed, but… what happened to your ring?”

Aseko looked at the spot where the ring had once been. Before she could answer, however, Benten played a chord on her Biwa and grinned.

“Hah! You can thank me for that! Turns out I can change the flow of the poison in those rings! Eko put her hand on some metal plate thing and it just activated for some reason. Maybe it was a magnet, electronics are weird about those. Anyway! After she got hit by it, Asuka here took her over or something and told me to use my rule. And it worked! None of you have to worry about anything so long as I’m here!”

“I-I did what?” Aseko said, looking at Benten in surprise.

“You don’t remember- Captain, this is serious. Why’re you chuckling like that?”

Ahab quieted himself, looking at Aseko affectionately. “Heh. Me guess be that she’s just the same as she ever was. Aye, it be the same as when we found Nyarl-” He looked down and away from the others. “…when ye almost sent us ta the other side, lass. Ye’ve got a heart o’ gold. Ye just wanted ta save them.”

“So, Nyarlathotep really did…” Aseko murmured.

They stepped forward into the room, each of them huddling around the screen in the middle. There was a play button in the very middle. Aseko took one look at each of them, her eyes lingering on the captain, then pressed it. Immediately the door behind them shut tight.

A cool, familiar female voice started playing, and each of them fell silent.

“Hello again, Captain. Welcome back, Asuka. I wish I could meet you both in person once again.”

“A-Akane… Kurashiki…” Aseko whispered.

“Zero…” Ahab breathed.

“Once you get past your initial surprise, please understand that I am truly sorry for you, Asuka. I planted that hat to remind you of everything, under the assumption that your own rule would turn against you… or for you. Whatever the case may be, I knew full well that other _protagonist souls_ would be created. That’s where the stem of all these timelines really begins. So please, answer these questions and come along. I will try to explain everything. By the end of this final puzzle, you will truly understand what we intend to do.”

The screen lit up with a question.

**Which of these requires the others to conduct electricity well?**

**Red: Baking Soda**

**Blue: Water**

**Green: Salt**

Ryota looked from Aseko to Duo. “You two remember this, right?”

“Yep,” Duo sighed. “It’s not a difficult question, by any means. That is, of course, under the assumption that you remember, Eko.”

“It-It’s the same as… with Shuichi and Shiro…” Aseko breathed out.

Both of them perked up.

Duo raised his eyebrows. “Ah, right. If you… exist… the way that you do, then my brother must have been involved somehow. I wonder why he doesn’t remember.”

“Yeah, that is weird,” Ryota agreed. “Shiro would never keep something like this secret. I wonder if they got hit with some memory thing like Eko did? E-Eko?”

Aseko was standing there, her hands clenched around her arms. Her legs were trembling, and her eyes were darting back and forth. Sweat beaded her brow, yet she made now move to wipe it away.

“That’s enough. Mind yerself, brats.” Ahab stepped over, putting his hands on Aseko’s shoulders. “Ye’re alright, lass. Ye’re fine. They’re fine… I’m fine.”

Aseko snapped out of it, looking up into Ahab’s eye. She pulled herself away, sighing.

“T-Thanks, Captain.”

“Hold it!” shouted Benten, pointing at the group of them. She continued, despite Ahab’s glare. “What’s all that about!? Eko, can’t you tell us even if Asuka won’t?”

“I-I don’t know, she’s keeping that locked away from me. It feels like she can read me like an open book if she wants, what with us being mixed, but-” She sighed, folding her arms. “I’m sorry, Eko, but I think it’s just easier for me to look into you than the other way around. You’re so… empty.”

Jambavan gasped. “I-I knew it!”

Aseko looked at him, confused. “Knew what?”

“Remember what I said about Zero wanting you to be as blank as possible?”

Duo nodded. “Ah… I see now. It’d be far easier to lead a soul into an empty shell than otherwise.”

Ryota frowned. “Why not, you know, actually use an empty shell then?”

Duo said nothing, putting his hands in his pocket as he thought. “Perhaps the connection from Asuka to one of these _protagonist souls_ is important to draw her in? Although, Eko’s soul is already extremely powerful to begin with, even without most of her memories…”

Aseko turned back to the screen and selected the blue button- water. She pointed ahead, down the corridor.

“Let’s get going. I need to know more.”

The other five exchanged a nervous glance, then followed her- the door closing behind them as the last one stepped through. As soon as the door shut, the lights in the hall glowed green, and a black door ahead of them opened up to an identical room as the last- same panel, same doors.

Aseko nodded at the others, then pressed the play button. The “Zero” of the first game greeted them once again.

“I believe we should begin at the very beginning- that is to say, my original timeline. Asuka, you and Ahab know what happened. The world I called home, all of my friends and family… gone. Destroyed by the sheer prospect of defeat. I watched as our world, which had been on the brink of victory, was seized back and brought to ruin. You know that this happened. Your consciousness of what I’m even talking about should be enough for you to believe me, I think.”

Aseko glared down at the pad, but within her was a deep twinge of pity.

_Don’t feel bad for her. I didn’t. What? I think… that came from you._

“I came up with a plan that would turn your existence into a fixed point- at least among any timeline in which the app exists or where that desolate future lies in wait. At least… one version of me did. I confess that I don’t remember everything. However… I do know you, Asuka. I know you too, Eko, though I only met you once. My memories don’t lie.”

_What? But I’ve never…_

“Regardless, I knew that this plan would work. In order for me to have gotten these memories, it _has_ to have worked. Although, that didn’t make it any less painful… for me, and especially not for you. When we kidnapped the nine of you, I knew from the get-go that your life would never be the same.”

Her voice cut off, and Aseko realized that her nails were digging into her palms.

Ahab grunted, putting his hand into his coat pocket. “So she knew Eko, then? Do ye think she’s here somewhere, lass?”

Aseko shook her head. “I-I don’t see how. After you- after I closed out of the app, she vanished. She told me that her body wouldn’t be able to remain.”

“Oh? Her body?” Duo asked, glancing at Aseko. “That’s awfully specific. Tell me- what if she wound up the same as you, Asuka?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure how, but you must have been within the field somehow- your thoughts and memories, existing without a host. Your soul, essentially. Would it not be possible that, when Benten diverted the flow of the field, that this girl you speak of wound up coming here as well? That is to say, alongside your sense of self and Captain Ahab's memories."

Aseko turned back to the panel in the middle.

_Why don’t you just face it? You don’t- you wouldn’t understand. Maybe you’re right, but you could still give me a chance, couldn’t you? No. I won’t- I won’t burden you with that._

**What number door did you go through?**

**Red:1**

**Blue:4**

**Green:5**

“What? I don’t remember going through any doors… do you?” Ryota said with a frown.

“Actually,” Jambavan started, turning a light pink. “I do. Do you remember, Eko?”

“7, 5, 3, and 6. Those are all the doors I went through. Then, you and I went through that door with the 5.”

Benten counted on her fingers. “Hold on, that’s the same number of rooms we went through, isn’t it? And if Jambavan remembers it, then you went through the 5 door at the same time in the order… wack.”

Ahab leaned back against the wall, looking hopelessly tired. “Somethin’ tells me this ain’t just fate.”

Aseko tapped the green button, and the corresponding door opened up. They walked through, causing the same thing to happen as before.

“Hmph, second verse, same as the first I guess,” muttered Benten, hitting the play button herself.

Akane’s voice returned. “You know what went down that night. You and the captain both. Do you remember that wedding room? I believe that, when we met in the timeline where we succeeded, I told you that it was the most important room. By pushing you two together, I nurtured a powerful bond- one of love and hope. Captain Ahab has very little connection to the morphogenetic field on his own- that much is true. However, he has a very powerful connection in his bond with you, Asuka. It is because of this that he should remember everything that transpired that night. You, me, and Captain Ahab. We’re the only ones that truly know what happened. Who really know… what choices were made, and by whom.”

Benten, Duo, Ryota, and Jambavan all stared at Aseko and Ahab, hardly daring to say a word. The air around those two was oppressive, feeling as if the tension would smother anyone who dares to approach. Then, Aseko chuckled slightly.

_The choices that were made, huh?_

**The key to this puzzle was…?**

**Red: The digital root**

**Blue: The Titanic**

**Green: The past**

“So, the digital root was involved there too, then?” Aseko asked, her eyes hidden with shadow.

“Aye. That’s also when we realized what was happenin’ to our memories.”

Ryota took a step back, waving his hands in front of him. “Hold on, wait a minute. Back up. Alternate timelines, sure I can buy that. But you… and you… are married??”

“Hey, wait! You’re right! What the hell, old man! Why didn’t you tell me!?” Benten yelled, glaring at Ahab.

“That be none o’ yer business, brat. That be beside the case, anyhow. It ain’t like I remembered what happened until earlier.”

Jambavan interrupted them. “Er, what did this girl mean by him remembering what happened _that night?_ It’s weird to say, but it doesn’t sound like she got rid of your memories… and what are these choices she mentioned?”

Ahab hit the red button, causing the door to open. As he walked through, they heard him call back.

“What happened ta Eko and what happened ta me an’ her… they be two separate things.”

Aseko followed him, and the rest came after her. This room was different from the others. Instead of one door, there were two- one a deep red, the other a bright blue.

“I’m sure that, by now, you’ve noticed the parallels between this game and yours, Asuka. While this was in part to draw you back here, it was also to have you form a connection between yourself and Eko- the girl whose soul is mixed with your own at this very moment. This time, we didn’t have nearly as many tries to make things right. As I am not a part of the picture here, the variance had to come from somewhere else. Thankfully, the Zero that you know, the Zero that wiped away the majority of Eko’s memories, he has a particularly handy rule. Put simply, he can reset the timeline as many times as he needs to.”

Aseko leaned forward on the panel, gripping it hard.

_He can just… reset it all he wants? Does that mean… those three dying was a… a part of his…_

“Once the final puzzle has been completed, he will use this power one last time. This will reset the timeline back to the point where you first formed, Eko. The only thing that will be different is Asuka. Should everything go according to plan, she will live on. However, for that to happen, your souls have to share something specific- these memories you are forming now need to be as… _in unison_ as they can be. There will be just one way to do this.”

The voice shut off and the screen lit up with the question, just beneath Aseko’s head. She jumped back like she was burnt by what she had just seen.

**Are you ready?**

**Red: Yes**

**Blue: No**

She squatted down, clutching at her head.

_No no no no nononono please not again-! Asuka, what’s wrong? You-_

Aseko’s eyes opened wide to the point of hurting. Tears pooled down onto the floor where she was now bent in a kneel.

_Melusine. Nyarlathotep. Ose. Gone, turned to exceptions._

_The others, each of the others, eliminated by their rule. Burnt from within, shred by a toy, digitized, ripped apart, impaled-_

“This- This is-” Aseko stammered, watching the tears pool on the floor. She felt Ahab’s warm hand on her back and shuddered. She didn’t move, instead just shaking.

“I think… ye have an idea what’s comin’ up, don’t ye.”

She didn’t move.

“If what she says is true, ye need ta relive what happened durin’ that night.”

She didn’t move.

Ahab sighed. “I finally remember ye, Asuka, but it’s like this…”

Aseko forced herself to her feet. “I… I finally know what Asuka’s been holding back. Or… I don’t remember everything, but I do know bits and pieces. I don’t know how they’re still alive, but- Don’t! Just shut up, Eko!”

“Still… alive?” asked Ryota.

Ahab stood back up and leaned himself against the wall. “Aye. The original nonary game had nine people. There was Asuka, Ose, Alice, Shuichi, Melusine, Shiro, Tadatomo, Nyarlathotep, and meself. From what Zero told us, we had to make exceptions with each other ta make Asuka a _constant_ or somethin’. Apparently, it worked. Thing is, we had to close the app all wrong.”

Duo’s eyebrows raised. “And yet, no exceptions were loosed… ah. That’s because everyone involved in it died, isn’t it? Interesting. I guess they must have been duplicates.”

Ryota balked. “Eh!? Isn’t that weird?”

“Is it?” Duo said, glancing at him. “I already told you, anything is possible when it comes to the app. If you can make unlimited pudding, why should duplicates be impossible?”

Ryota smiled weakly. “Ah, I guess that’s fair.”

“And no one even knew…” Jambava said sadly.

“I won’t do it.”

They looked at Aseko, who was now standing in front of the tablet. She was breathing heavily, staring down at it in a desperate manner.

She brushed some tears forming in her eyes away, then held her right hand out as if she were about to grab something.

“I won’t let that happen again!”

A light flashed from the star tattoo on her right hand as she tried to summon her sacred artifact- boundless tail.

Ahab reached out to try and stop her, but before he could even make it, she was down on the floor, clutching her hand. Red and blue sparks of lightning arced down her arms.

“W-What’s wrong with- with me?” she said through gritted teeth. “Why can’t I summon boundless tail!?” The flower in her hair pulsed, the red-tipped flowers pushing the bright blue pigment down to the middle. She stood up, and her tone changed to be sympathetic. “I’m sorry. I think… since this body is still really just my own- you’re more a visitor at the moment- that you can’t use your rule without me. You can’t use… my rule.”

_Eko…? You- you can’t… you don’t understand…_

Aseko ignored herself and stepped up to the tablet. Before she pressed anything, she turned to Ahab.

“Captain, you’d do anything to save Asuka, wouldn’t you?”

He glanced at her flower, then looked straight ahead at her. “…Aye.”

Aseko smiled, then turned back around.

_Don’t do it. Please, please don’t do it. You don’t know what you’re- Asuka, please stop. I know exactly what’s going to happen. But… I also know that Zero isn’t lying. When things get reset, the only difference will be that you’ll finally have a place to belong. I won’t abandon you, Asuka. I won’t abandon you like you’ve abandoned yourself._

Her finger trembled over the screen.

_W-Why…?_

A teardrop splashed down onto the screen.

_I can’t pretend to know how you feel, but I know how it feels to be alone. I… I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. And that hurt you carry inside- I don’t want to leave you like this. Eko, please- No, you listen! I know that what’s coming up will be painful, but none of it will matter in the end. Not once everything resets- not when Ded, Nyarlathotep, and Christine are alive again._

She breathed out shakily, then touched her finger to the red answer.

_I don’t have a choice, Asuka._

The red door opened wide, and Aseko stepped forward. She looked back at each of them, then smiled. “Don’t worry. We’re… we’re almost at the end. Then, everything will be fine.”

Each of the others glanced at each other, then followed after her.

Unlike the rooms before it, this room had four metal doors, each with a red number 1 through 4 spray-painted on it. A cold feeling was spreading through Aseko now- equal parts familiar and new. Trying her best to ignore the Asuka parts of her, she hit the play button. Akane Kurashiki’s voice returned, but there was a sense of finality added to it now.

“If you’ve reached here, that means you either know exactly what you’re getting into, Eko… or you know nothing. The very last trial Asuka had to endure was to watch all those who had been with her since the beginning perish, one by one. I understand this will be difficult, but now… you must do the same. Not just that- these must be willing deaths, lives freely given for your continued existence. If that wasn’t enough, you must deliberate amongst yourselves, and figure out exactly who died first. Good luck, and… I’m sorry.”

How does one react when confronted with the prospect of their death? What would someone choose, if given the chance of spending your life for the sake of another? Perhaps with fear, as shown with Jambavan and Ryota, the latter of who had no candy with which to comfort himself. Perhaps they would pretend to act indifferent- maybe even acceptance, just like how Duo had resigned himself, stuffing his hands into his pockets as if he were bored. Even still, there might be those like Benten, who choose to mask their fear with bravery and bravado.

Even if it’s the right thing to do, that doesn’t make it easy.

Duo glanced over at Ahab, who had sat down on the floor smoking on his pipe. “Captain, do you believe there’s any chance that what this girl is saying is wrong?”

Ahab shook his head.

“T-Then… we all…” Jambavan stammered, “if we don’t, then… we’re stuck.”

“W-What do you mean ‘stuck?’” Ryota asked, his eyes wide with shock.

“It’s simple,” said Duo, his tone as cool and understanding as ever. “If Zero holds a rule that lets him have infinite tries, there’s truly nothing we can do. If we step out of line, he can just go back and do everything over until… he wins. Even if we were to somehow stop him before he resets everything, what would that even accomplish? Nyarlathotep- dead. Christine- dead. Ded Moroz- dead. At least with this… there’s the possibility we can bring them back.”

“T-Then, I say we try!”

Aseko raised her head, staring at Benten. Despite the confident pose she was making, she was still trembling slightly.

Benten glared at Ryota and Jambavan. “He’s right! People can do all sorts of things with roles and rules- why would resetting time be any weirder than what any of us can do!? We can bring them back- Christine, Nyarlathotep, _and_ Ded! I don’t even care if I don’t remember them- when we get back and everyone is alive, I’m going to kick their asses! Christine and Nyarl for toying with us, and Ded because I’m still pretty sure I could cream him if I tried.”

Ryota’s face twitched in a smile, but it was Jambavan who spoke up.

“A-And, in this new world… Asuka would be around too, wouldn’t she? We could… we could really get to know her. Again, I guess… heh.”

Ahab stood up and looked down at the tablet Aseko was still standing by. No matter how long she looked at it, it never changed.

**You who was the first to die:**

**Press your hand here.**

“S-So, Asuka,” Benten said, turning to face her. “Who died first? The s-sooner we can get this over with-”

“No!” Aseko shouted, balling her hands up. “Why would I ever want to watch my friends die again!? I won’t let you!”

She tried to slam her hand down on the pad, but she stopped halfway through- her hand straining as if someone were forcing her from coming too close to it.

“Eko! Stop it! Let me go!”

Grabbed the other side of the tablet, using it to try and force her hand down. No matter what she did, she couldn’t reach the screen.

“Asuka, you heard what she said. We can fix all of this. You don’t have to be alone- Shut up! I’d rather be alone than relive that!”

**Clonk-!**

Aseko went sprawling, landing on the floor a foot away from Ahab. On her way down, she saw Benten standing there, holding her biwa like a weapon.

_Benten… why?_

Duo put his hand to his head as if he had just realized something.

“That’s why you remember, Captain. That’s why they wanted you to form such a close bond.”

“What?” Ryota asked, looking nervously at Aseko’s slumped form, who was now being held by Ahab.

“They would have known that Asuka would never want to relive that again- Eko is fighting her to keep her from doing anything too drastic. That’s why they set everything up for the captain to remember everything as well. He must know who died… and in what order.”

Ahab drew in a prolonged breath, then breathed out. “…Aye, I do. I saw it all while holdin’ onto Asuka… stopping her from tryin’ ta save ‘em all. It… wasn’t pretty. Thing is, each of us died fer the same reason. Each of us… willingly gave up our lives. Just like she said,” he added, looking up at the ceiling. Each of them understood him to be talking about the disembodied voice.

“Asuka…” Ryota sighed, looking down at her.

“So,” Duo said, folding his arms, “In order to mimic those events, we need to follow suit. We have to end our own lives.”

Ahab looked down then nodded. “...Aye, I think so. At that point, there were just the six o’ us left. Me an’ Asuka, ‘course, but there were four others.” He brought up his hand, which had been resting on Aseko’s shoulder. “Shiro, Shuichi, Alice, and… that dog one.”

“Tadatomo,” Aseko said, then clamped her mouth shut.

_Get out of my memories! No. Please, work with me! It’s not too late! Maybe not- but even if it’s not too late for me, this is the path we’re going to go down._

“P-Please stop…” Aseko breathed out, struggling to push herself to her feet.

“The first ta die,” continued Ahab, “was Alice.”

Jambavan’s arms fell to his sides, his eyes wide. “S-She went… first…?”

Ahab nodded but didn’t say anything else. Each of them looked at Jambavan, whose eyes were brimming with tears. Wordlessly, he stepped up to the tablet.

“W-What are you doing! Get away!” Aseko shouted, trying to summon her artifact again. Sparks of red and blue lightning shot up her arm, causing her to stumble over again. “Hrgh-! Stop it, Asuka!”

Jambavan’s ears twitched as he put his hands on the side of the tablet, staring down at the screen. “E-Each of us correspond to someone else, don’t we? Me to Alice, Ryota to Shiro, and Duo to Shuichi-”

“And what about me?” Benten asked, clearly trying her best to keep her cool. “Captain, you said that the only other one left was Tadatomo? Who in the hell is that?”

“I-I don’t know why you’d represent him, but there are no other options, right?” Ryota asked.

Ahab lowered his head. “Benten.”

“Er, yes? Captain?”

“Ye… ye went with people in the same way that he did. Ye went with me in the first one, Duo in the second… ye woulda went with Nyarlathotep in the third, and ye went through the last room with Eko. It be the same as he did, but instead of Duo, it was Shuichi.”

“Jeez, they really did mirror everything, huh? Damn,” muttered Benten.

Each of them just stood there- Ahab beside Aseko, Jambavan at the panel, and the other three standing close by. No one dared to say anything- knowing that soon, their numbers would begin to dwindle. The tension in the room was nothing short of palpable.

_Asuka, it’ll be ok. How are you supposed to know that?_

She looked down at her tie- the colors were slipping past each other, constantly changing into a different pattern.

_I know you believe Zero, Asuka. I can tell you don’t want to, but I’m sure that you do in spite of yourself. Things will work out in the end. Just… hold on, ok?_

“Eko?”

_Eh?_

She looked at Jambavan, who was looking straight back apprehensively.

“Thank you f-for everything. I-It’s weird to say this now, after everything…” As he started to cry, Aseko’s eyes widened. What he was saying, the way he was saying it- it had the same sense of finality Asuka had heard that one fateful night.

_Eko, stop him! A-Asuka… please, just stop… this is hard enough as it is…_

Despite the tears wetting his fur, he smiled. “It was kinda fun, solving puzzles with you. In this next world, when all of us are alive again, we should meet up again! T-That would… be nice, you know?”

He brushed away his tears, then put his hand on the panel.

**Beep.**

**Shnk-!**

The very world seemed to slow down as the bear’s legs crumpled from beneath him. His ring fell off, descending to the earth gracefully, falling into place beside Jambavan’s body. He twitched once, twice- then relaxed. His last, tear-filled smile was still spread across his face.

Aseko didn’t fall- as much as Asuka wanted to, Eko refused to let her. She shouted out- something she couldn’t hear over the pounding of her blood in her ears. She knelt down beside him, grabbing onto his fuzzy arm. He didn’t move.

_Jambavan… Jambavan…!_

She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his lifeless body. Something deep within her shifted almost imperceptibly- almost like a key sliding into a lock. She breathed out and forced herself to her feet.

“Let’s k-keep going. The sooner we get through this… the sooner everything will be fixed.” After saying this, Aseko looked down at the tablet.

**Pending…**

**…**

**Death confirmed.**

**Access granted.**

The third door opened up, leading forward into a hallway just like the last one. With heavy hearts, each of them filed through the door. Aseko stopped and took one last look back.

“We’ll all see each other again. I promise.”

//

“So then, they’ve accepted their fate? They’ll forfeit their lives for Asuka’s sake?”

“Seems that way. Just like you thought they would.”

“I see.”

“Hey, what’s the matter? Everything will finally be over soon enough.”

“...You’re right. Once this timeline is reset again, everything will have been… set right. But why would you agree to this plan? There’s no way you’re happy about this.”

“…I guess this is just the price I have to pay to see my little sister one last time.”

//

**You who was the second to die:**

**Press your hand here.**

“Right,” Duo stated, looking at everyone’s glum expressions. “Let’s hurry this up. Who died next, Captain?”

Ahab said nothing, instead turning his back to them.

_How will he… how could he be expected to do that?_

Aseko took in a deep breath and put her hand on his shoulder. He glanced at her, his eye wide- pleading for something, anything to change. Spurned by his desolate look, Aseko found herself speaking without even meaning to.

“The one who died second… was Tadatomo. He was… burnt. From the inside out.”

Ahab’s eye shook and he turned back around to see Benten, her arms raised in shock.

“H-Haha, you… you can’t be serious, right? So soon?” She lowered her hands, clenching her fists. “…Damn it.”

“B-Benten, ye don’t-” Ahab started, his hand reaching out toward her.

She walked over to him, poking him in the chest. He hardly budged, his hand slowly falling. “What do you think you’re saying!? Jambavan just died- if there was another way, it’s too… it’s too late now. I’m sorry, Captain-”

Ahab stepped forward, embracing her in a big hug. Benten did nothing at first, surprised by this sudden show of affection, then she wrapped her arms around him, putting her head on his chest. Her body started to shake- despite her face being hidden by Ahab’s form, Aseko could hear the muffled sounds of sobbing. She clung to the old man as if trying to cling to life itself, as if he could somehow find another way. She broke off, wiping her tears away, then looked up at Ahab’s desolate face with a smile.

“Heh. ‘You decide the place you would die,’ right?” She looked over to Aseko, her eyes bloodshot. “Eko, Asuka? Give Zero hell for me, alright?”

_Stop it, Eko! Can’t you see how this is hurting him!? Can't you… why won't you…_

Aseko nodded, gripping her shoulder. “I will.”

Benten flashed one of her signature grins, then slammed her hand down on the panel.

**Beep.**

**Shnk-!**

“Ow, shi- agh…” Benten fell back, her ring slipping off her finger. Ahab rushed over and caught her, gently lowering her to the ground. Despite the poison coursing through her veins, she managed a small laugh. She reached her hand up in a salute, her eyes shaking as she focused on the old man above her.

“Thanks f-for letting me be a… a part of your crew, Captain Ahab. I-It was… fun…”

“The honor be… all mine… sailor,” Ahab replied, wiping a tear off of Benten’s face. She then took a shuddering gasp and, in one heart-wrenching moment, relaxed in Ahab’s arms.

He gently laid her down on the floor, as if she were made out of the most fragile glass in the world. He didn’t look at any of them, turning so they could only see his scarred eye, like he wanted to be alone. To mourn Benten- someone who was like a daughter to him- by himself. His body shook in grief, his ears and tail limp… then, between Ryota’s sobs, they began to hear Ahab’s voice. It was quiet and low, choked and even cracking at points, but still his gentle words filled the room, nearly bringing Aseko to her knees.

He was singing a lullaby.

Aseko shut her eyes, tears falling from her face to the floor. She felt like her very heart were caught in her throat. With a shuddering gasp, she turned to the monitor.

**Pending…**

**…**

**Death confirmed.**

**Access granted.**

The leftmost door opened up, revealing another hallway.

Duo stepped away from Ahab, giving him what little privacy he could. Ryota, meanwhile, made his way next to Aseko. The captain’s lullaby had ended now, but he still stayed by her side.

“Eko… I… I don’t know if I can do this…” he mumbled, sniffling. Aseko understood. Even in the short time he had known them, watching them die like this was too much. Too much for anyone.

Aseko winced, willing her words to stay bottled up. The bright blue pattern on her flower was spiking up, while the red kept pushing it back down.

“R-Ryota,” Aseko said, straining under the force of her effort. “I… I trust you. If I really had to forget everything… I’m glad the first person I met was you.” She pulled out the purple lollipop Ryota had given her back when they first met.

He looked at it, surprised. “W-What? You still have it? B-But it’s just candy…”

Aseko shook her head, and the blue color started to stabilize. “I know it’s a little silly, but this is the very first act of kindness I can remember. This one little candy.”

Ryota’s eyes drifted from the candy back to Aseko’s face. “Eko…”

“Please, Ryota,” she said, putting the candy back into her pocket. “I know I don’t have any right to tell you to sacrifice yourself for her, but please… she doesn’t have any hope of her own. The only reason she’s here is that she thought we were in danger.”

Ryota smiled weakly. “She’s n-not wrong.”

Aseko looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. “Once we were all fine, she was planning on just leaving. Well, that’s what she thought when she found out what was really happening anyway.”

“What did she think before?”

“I think… she thought this might have been a way to change the past. By changing this outcome, she could undo what happened to her. I can feel her loneliness and despair, Ryota. None of her friends remember her- and the one that does…”

_Four bloody harpoons, driven through the ground._

“But… how do you know all of this? Didn’t you say she’s keeping you closed off?”

Aseko nodded. “I did, but every step we make toward what happened to her is connecting her more and more to me. I can’t tell if we’re becoming more distinct… or if we’re becoming one whole.”

There was a pause, and a shadow passed over Ryota’s once-jolly eyes. “You know, I think I know why Ded’s ring showed up in your hands. You needed it, didn’t you?”

Aseko thought for a second. “Ah… yeah. I nearly forgot it was actually a key we needed.”

Ryota looked down the hall. “I don’t know how familiar you are with Ded, but… his power was all about miracles. I think that you got that ring because that’s the… the last miracle he could ever do. But then… if a miracle like that were to help Zero, they have to be in the right… right? How could that be the case when that just… when that…”

Aseko said nothing, tears pooling at her eyes, thinking about her friends- Jambavan, Nyarlathotep, Christine, Ded, and Benten, yes. But also Tadatomo, Melusine, Shuichi, Shiro, Ose, and Alice.

Duo stepped over, Captain Ahab following behind him at a sluggish, robotic pace. “You two done? Time waits for no man.” He then passed them by and stepped down the hallway. Ryota nodded at Aseko, then the three of them followed suit.

//

“You sure have a flair for the dramatic.”

“Oh, do I now? I’m not the one who was rambling about your tale of two Santa Clauses. And getting Nyarlathotep and Christine on board? I honestly can’t think of anyone else who would be _more_ dramatic. Although, I'm sure Nyarlathotep must have had some recollection over the past. He could have helped Eko realize what she needed to. And Christine is tricky enough to set up all these rooms isn't she... still, very dramatic individuals, those two.”

“Hey, what the hell! That was your idea, you know.”

“It was?”

“...”

“Hm. Maybe it was really your idea, and I just gave it to you?”

“I swear. Veritable genius, but you’re practically insane.”

//

**The two who died side-by-side:**

**Press your hands here**

Duo and Ryota stood in front of the tablet, each looking at the other.

“I guess this means… this is it, doesn’t it? If Ahab was holding Asuka back, then…”

Duo nodded. “Yes. Shiro and my obnoxious brother must have died together. How curious. I didn’t think they saw eye-to-eye.”

Aseko chuckled darkly. “Oh, they didn’t. Not at first, anyway. I guess as the game went on, they got closer- realized they didn’t have any real reason to hate each other. His last words to him were that… he wasn’t strong enough to throw his life away.”

Duo looked at her. “It was nice to talk to you, Eko. And as for Asuka- you are very interesting. You’ll have to make sure to talk to me when we meet in that next world.”

Ryota breathed out. “What Jambavan said, I think I kinda agree with him. Maybe all these puzzles were just to mimic what happened to you, Asuka, but… It was still a little fun. Although, I could do without the… you know. It- It was nice to meet all these new people!”

Ryota smiled, ignoring the tears running down his round cheeks, and held out his shaky hand to Duo. The latter looked at it, raised his eyebrows, then took it in his own. Both of them seemed to relax, just a bit. Ahab put her arm around Aseko’s shoulder and pulled her close. Tears spilled wordlessly out of her eyes, dripping down her face and falling onto her tie- the colors of which were changing much slower than before.

Together, Ryota and Duo pressed their hands to the tablet.

**Beep.**

**Shnk-!**

The two collapsed to the floor, landing side by side. Neither of them moved any longer- their eyes were closed, and their chests neglected to rise with breath. Candy wrappers spilled out from both Ryota and Duo’s pockets.

_They must have… become close. W-Who’d have thought, huh?_

“Lass,” Ahab muttered, holding her tighter, “I can hardly believe I’m askin’ ye this, but are ye... are ye feelin’ ok? Last time, ye were a sobbin’ mess, but now ye’re… just sad.”

Aseko gently pulled herself away from Ahab, pulling the purple candy out of her pocket.

“I’d like to say something like… you can never really get used to seeing your friends, your loved ones die in front of your very eyes. That each time, it’s surprising and just as tragic. But… what if it’s not? What if you were to become used to it- numb to their pain, numb to everything? That someone you knew, that someone you love could pass away right in front of you… and you wouldn’t even bat an eye?”

She leaned down, put the lollipop into Ryota’s hand, and closed it around the candy. All Captain Ahab could see of her reaction were the tears falling onto Ryota’s body. Her voice trembled.

“Am I a monster? To become used to something like this- does that mean there’s nothing I can do? Do I just… just have to accept it?”

Ahab squatted down next to her, rubbing her back. “…That’s somethin’ I’ve asked meself a lot, lass. It’s scary ta become used ta this. Ye might feel broken or lost or… somethin’, but… that’s when ye depend on others. If ye just try an’ bear it yerself, ye’ll just become obsessed.”

Aseko looked up at Ahab. “O-Obsessed?”

“Aye. Obsessed with tryin’ ta change the past, obsessed with yer memories… obsessed with tryin’ to get revenge… focusin’ on that instead of tryin’ to live.” He stood up and helped Aseko to her feet. “We know they- we’ll all meet again. Let’s keep on goin’, lass.”

“…Right.”

_But then..._

_...I'll be the only one who remembers..._

//

“I’m surprised she’s taking this so well.”

“Are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Haha, it’s no coincidence that Eko is going to be the host of Asuka. Where Asuka is more brash and expressive, Eko is more reserved and stable. Together, they complement each other quite well. Eko is much better at seeing the big picture, and her resolve must be supporting Asuka’s devastation. Especially at the moment, while they’re practically one whole. Once all this is over… well, I hope…”

//

_This is…_

The room the two of them had just walked into was vastly different from the others. In a sense, it appeared to be a partially demolished hotel lobby. The hard, smooth floor was chipped and shattered at places, large chunks of rubble having fallen from the ceiling. A fountain that once bore three near-obscene statues had been broken into pieces. A staircase along the wall was broken- the second floor entirely inaccessible. Attached to the main lobby, on the opposite side of the destroyed fountain, was a downtrodden sitting area. Velvet seats were toppled over, crushed and torn at places. The legs of the once-fancy wooden table had been broken off, leaving the tabletop resting on the carpeted flooring.

Aseko felt her very blood chill, though the room itself was not particularly cold. She gripped her shoulders and walked further into the room, her eyes darting around like she were a wounded animal.

“Figures we’d wind up here,” sighed Ahab, kicking aside a small pile of rubble. “This be where it all ended…”

“Or… where this all began,” Aseko muttered. She walked into the sitting room, where Asuka had first seen Ahab during that nonary game. Her eyes scoured the room, landing on something familiar- something that filled her with dread.

Built into the wall was a sliding door.

A sliding door bearing a red number 0.

Aseko took a few steps back. “I-It’s… the zero door…? W-What is it doing here…?”

Ahab took one look at the zero door, then looked back to Aseko. “Relax, brat. That can’t hurt ye anymore.” Aseko breathed out and leaned against one of the walls, closing her eyes.

_Calm down. It’s… we’re almost there. Just a little more._

Ahab put his hand in his coat pocket and looked around the room. He walked up to a spot on the wall- the same spot on the wall where the number 6 door had appeared, the very first door Captain Ahab had gone through.

“Ah, so this must be what… what Ben-" He stopped himself. "...What she was talking about,” Ahab muttered.

Aseko looked over, confused, but his broad frame was blocking whatever it was he was looking at.

“Ye remember me last words ta ye, don’t ye, lass? I wanted ye ta forget about me. Move on with yer life. I guess… that wasn’t an option. I… I don’t know what ta say to ye. Ever since I saw ye again, I’ve been thinkin’ about… how ta tell ye me feelin’s.”

He turned around and looked her in the eye. He was smiling- that same damned smile he had when he said goodbye. A smile filled with love.

Behind him was the metal slab that had activated Eko’s ring.

In a moment of sheer panic, Aseko started running toward Ahab. The world ran in slow motion as Ahab turned back to the plate, his expression turning mournful. She was almost there, just a little more and she could save-

**Beep.**

**Shnk-!**

Aseko stopped, her trembling hand a foot away from the captain.

“C-Captain… Ahab… no… NO-!”

His body fell, Aseko catching him easily.

Ahab chuckled, his eye drifting to Aseko’s face. “Heh… ye’ve always been stronger than ye look, brat.”

She couldn’t stop the tears from pouring out as she clutched Ahab’s hand. His magenta ring laid on the floor beside him, needles extended, dark with blood.

“I finally… know what ta say,” Ahab said, and he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled something out and put it in her hand. Finally, Eko knew what Ded had given him back in the belfry.

Sitting in her hand was a wedding cake topper, both Asuka and Ahab standing at the top. Ahab chuckled, raised his hand, and wiped the tears off of Aseko’s cheek.

“Don’t ye make that face. I know- ye know we’ll meet again.” He sighed and finished, a regretful look in his eye, “I’m… sorry this ol’ fool fell in love with ye… I'm sorry, me... cute sailor...”

His hand fell, coming to rest on the floor beside him. Carefully, Aseko let him gently down. She drew herself in, clutching her legs.

_Why? Why does it have to end like this? Even when everything gets reset… none of our relationships, none of these bonds will remain… I… I understand now._

She stood up, and immediately stumbled over.

_W-What’s happening?_

**Beep.**

 She looked down at the source of the noise- her bracelet. There were now two arrows on the screen, one on either side of the 2. They pointed to some external buttons on the watch. Somehow, she got the feeling that this was it, that this was all she had to do. Simply wishing for all of this to be over already, wanting all this pain to end, she pressed in both buttons.

She instantly fell to the floor, feeling her whole body shake. It wasn’t like her muscles were shaking- it felt as if her very _soul_ were being shaken, being forced in and out of her body, pushed and pulled, stretched and compressed.

_W-What… is going… on!?_

_A-Asuka!?_

Her eyes opened wide, staring directly at the backs of her hands. The star tattoos on the back of each felt burning hot, yet cold as ice. They were simultaneously dark as night, yet bright as the morning sun. It was as if both were the same, yet polar opposites.

Then, it all stopped.

“What just happened?” Aseko asked, then stood back up.

_Careful._

Aseko jumped back- it was like the voice came from inside, but not in the same way that she was now used to. Rather than voices, thoughts, and memories overlapping as if she were being forced to think them, it was an entirely separate, distinct voice.

“Eko, is that you?”

_I’m reasonably sure I am me, yes._

“Haha, very funny. What’s going on…?”

She looked down. Her tie- which had been a mix of red and blue until now- was a deep purple.

_Weird. Are we like Ded now?_

“I-I don’t know. Try taking over?”

She concentrated for a bit, then-

“Huh. I guess it worked.”

_Woah. Actually, this is almost like what happened with Ryusei._

Aseko looked down at her bracelet. “Almost?”

_Well, at that point neither of us were really… comfortable, you know? This actually doesn’t feel, y’know, bad._

“Glad to know. Also, looks like we can get through that door. That’s how Akane said the zero door works, right?”

Her bracelet now had a bright blue number 0 on it.

_Yeah- wait, you remember that?_

She walked over to the zero door. “Yeah, I think if I dug around, I could probably find out anything I want to know from you, as could you. But I won’t.”

_Why not? Afraid you might find something... juicy?_

Aseko shook her head. “Not really, I think if I need to know anything, I could just ask you. You know, like a friend would. But, Asuka… you don’t need to hide your pain with a joke. Everything will be over soon, I promise.”

Silence, then-

_Heh... thanks, Eko._

Aseko smiled, a faint blush touching her cheeks. “You know, I feel really powerful all of a sudden.”

_Really? I mean, I felt a bit stronger than usual, but I’ve always been pretty strong, you know?_

“I could see that. Though, I don’t just mean physically. It’s weird.”

_Mind if I take over?_

_Sure thing._

“Woah, you’ve already got this under control!”

_Heh, I try._

Aseko glanced back at Ahab, breathed in a deep breath, and pumped her fist. “Right! Let’s go fix everything! I-I’ll see you later, Captain. I promise." She put the wedding cake topper in his hand and closed his fingers around it. "...Wait for me, alright?”

With that, she ran full force at the zero door, which slid open as she drew near. She sped through a short, dark hallway, and found herself within a dark room lined with computers, monitors… and two people.

The first of these was a white-haired boy wearing a white tank-top and an odd amount of long, black cloths wrapped around his shoulders and in his hair. Fixed to his wrist was a bracelet with a bright green light running through the middle. The other girl, however, was someone who was all too familiar. A girl with long, dark brown hair adorned with white flower ornaments.

_But that’s… Akane Kurashiki?_

Asuka’s eyes went wide with shock and fury. “You were dead! You told me your body wouldn’t be able to exist anymore!”

Akane shrugged, but it was the boy who answered.

“You deaf? She didn’t say she’d die, dumbass. It’s nearly the same thing as you, isn’t it? You left your body and got stuck there. Well, so did she.”

_…That clone._

Aseko turned to the side. “What?”

_Back in the first room I went through- with Ryota and Duo- we made a human body. Duo said it wouldn’t do anything without a soul, but… looks like they used that as a vessel._

“Then why does it look like her!? Does she just have some sort of… wig or something?”

_Well, there was a wig back at the casino, actually- but that’s probably beside the point. Duo also said that, if a soul was placed within that featureless vessel, then they would likely also take on a different appearance-_

The boy glared at Aseko. “What the hell? Have you lost it?”

Akane waved him down. “Hold on, Aoi. I think… Eko? Are you still in there?”

_Grr… the nerve! She lied to me!_

Aseko sighed. “She didn’t lie to you, Asuka. Although,” she fixed her glare onto Akane, “that was cheap.”

“So you retained both consciousnesses… perfect. Perfect! This is just what we needed!”

The white-haired boy, Aoi, rubbed his temples. “You sure about this, Akane? What if something goes wrong-”

“Oh, don’t give me that. The sheer fact that I know what I know, that Asuka is even _here_ , is proof that it works!” She turned to Aseko and bowed. “I’m very sorry for everything that I put you through. I believe… I owe you a bit of explanation. Please, sit down.”

Aseko reluctantly took a seat, confused by the way she was acting.

_I bet this is just a trick. Stupid Akane-_

_Oh, shush, we might as well get some answers._

Akane put her finger to her chin. “Oh, how interesting! That purple flower in your hair appears to change ever so slightly every now and then- to a more red or blue tone. Maybe that shows who’s in control?”

“Speak up, Akane.”

“Pushy pushy. Alright, here’s the general gist. You know what we did already, and you should remember why we had to do it.”

“Yeah, how could I forget. It was to make sure my weird 23-or-more-souls thing exists in all timelines, right?”

Akane laughed. “Well, that’s close enough, I suppose. Technically, it only applies to worlds in which the app exists or in which that situation would occur. There are other lines in which none of that is really a thing, so those weren’t affected. Although for the most part, we don’t deal with those… though, I suppose you could now.”

Aseko blinked. “What?”

Akane folded her arms. “Well, you must have already figured that our plan was complete, right? We did what we set out to do. However, there was one problem- we needed the initial plan. You see, I didn’t come up with this all on my own. I got the information about the plan from the Morphogenetic Field.”

_Of course she did._

Akane closed her eyes, sighing as if she had forgotten to mention something. “Oh, right. I suppose that’s more important later. Anyhow, everything we did here was to bring you back here, Asuka, and tie you to the _protagonist soul_ of this timeline. That is to say, Eko. In doing this, we’d be doing two things.”

She dramatically flourished one finger out- Aoi put his face in his hands.

“One! By bringing you back into this timeline from the morphogenetic field, you come with extraordinary power. You, yourself, are the ‘pillar of the Morphogenetic Field!’”

Aseko blinked, confused. “Er, what does that mean?”

Akane smiled. “Well, you know what a pillar is, yes?”

“Uh, big and powerful, right? I don’t know.”

Akane thought to herself. “…Yeah, that’s close enough, I think. Bottom line is, you are very powerful. You hold the ability to physically transfer between timelines- regardless of what time and what distance they may be.”

_That’s… it sounds hardly believable, but it feels…_

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Anyway- Two! By bringing Eko into the equation, you have physical stability. Despite your status as a pillar of that world, it is only because of her that you’re able to exist primarily outside of it. Plus, the sacred artifact you left behind only serves to further amplify your power.”

“So, all of this was to make us into… well, this? Why? You have to have some reason for that.”

Akane’s face turned serious. “Well, there is the fact that, should any unstoppable threat occur that I don’t know about, you are more than equipped to stop it- in any timeline. The real reason is… the final puzzle.”

Aoi picked his head up. “Would you believe she’s actually been practicing this spiel?”

The flower on Aseko’s head turned slightly redder. “So then… what is this _final puzzle_? You… no, that had to be you, wasn’t it?” She looked at Aoi. “If I’m right about Akane using the body we made, and if Benten’s rule was used to drag her here as well, then you must be Zero.”

He threw his hands up. “Guilty as charged. You know, I don’t actually enjoy killing. Everything I’ve done has been under her orders.”

Akane shot him an annoyed glance, then looked back to the other two. “Well then. This final puzzle is the final step in all of this… but also the first.”

“Excuse me?”

_It wouldn’t be her if it weren’t overly complicated._

“I need you to send me back to my original timeline.”

Aseko sat up straight in her chair. “Wait, hold on. That timeline doesn’t exist anymore, does it? By making Asuka’s sacrifice a convergent event, that should mean that there’s… nothing left, right?”

“That’s a good point, Eko, but that’s not exactly true. The timeline is defunct, yes. For all intents and purposes, it doesn’t exist. In fact, I believe that even you would be unable to travel to a future that doesn’t exist.” She raised her finger. “However, there is one thing to consider- I remember what happened. My motivations to start everything were because of that future. That means that future still exists in some form. Perhaps not physically, but instead…”

“You mean… as information. The concept of that future still exists within the Morphogenetic Field.”

Akane clapped her hands together, and even Aoi’s eyebrows raised.

“That’s exactly it. All you have to do is send me to where that information lies. That will give myself in that timeline the information that I need to set things right.”

Aseko’s flower turned a slightly bluer hue. “So then, what if I don’t.”

Akane frowned. “Well… I don’t believe that matters. Both you and I know that you will. If you hadn’t, well, you wouldn’t be sitting in front of me. To put it bluntly, if you don't, then you would create a time paradox.”

“Even if I do, what’ll happen to you? You know I’ve never done anything like this.”

Akane clasped her arms and looked away from all of them. “Well… there are rules that allow people to retain their forms after being sent through the morphogenetic field, but… despite your power, I don’t believe you have that ability. Well, at least not when it comes to someone besides yourself. I think it’s more likely that… my current body will be turned into something like gelatin.”

Aseko stood up. “Y-You mean, like jello?”

“Hmmm, yes. I think so. When I first got these plans, a lot of green gelatin showed up beside me. I remember thinking it was odd… but now, I think that’s just what happens when you try and force something physical through a field meant only for information.”

Aseko looked from Aoi to Akane, realizing exactly what they were asking.

“Akane, you… you want me to… kill you?”

Akane nodded. “Please, Asuka. Eko. Once you do that, Aoi here can reset the timeline to the very beginning.”

Aoi stood up and pointed at the bracelet on his wrist. “As you know by now, this’ll let me reset time up to a certain point. Specifically, that moment of convergence. I have some limited control over what remains and what doesn’t. For instance- the first time that I reset, I decided that you wouldn’t remember certain things, Eko. I essentially left your memories behind. Sorry, but they’re gone.”

Aseko shook her head. “I’m fine with that. I can always just make new ones.”

_Eko…_

He continued, “I’ll be able to reset it while keeping your existence intact. Essentially, the ‘Eko’ timeline will be replaced with… whatever you decide to call yourself. Think of this as… your personal timeline.”

Aseko looked from one to the other, then nodded her head. “Fine. I’ll do my best.”

Akane’s face grew into a weary, yet relieved smile. “Thank you, Eko. Thank you, Asuka.”

Aseko closed her eyes, readied herself into a battle-ready stance, and focused, both Asuka and Eko willing their sacred artifacts into being. There was a flash of light, and she opened her eyes to see two swords- two near-identical copies of Boundless Tail, one in each hand. The only difference between the two was the magatamas on the ends of the strings attached to the end of each. The one attached to the right sword- Asuka’s sword- was white. The left one- Eko’s- was black.

She turned around, putting her back to the two Zeros.

“You can call me… Aseko.”

She lashed out forward, swinging both swords in an X, focusing on the concept of the Morphogenetic Field. It was almost instinctual, what with how naturally it came. The two of them, joining powers as one, found the exact spot which Akane had mentioned. She breathed out and stepped back. It was like there was a cross-shaped tear the fabric of reality itself- a bright white light shone from the gap in space. A gate to a place beyond this timeline.

Akane turned to Aoi. “I’m sorry, Aoi. This is goodbye… for good.”

He stepped forward, embracing her in a hug. “Goodbye, Akane. I’ll never forget you, sister.”

They broke off, and Akane smiled sadly. “In this world of gods… maybe one day, we’ll meet again. In the next life.”

She stepped up to the gap and sighed, “I really do mean it when I say sorry, Asuka. Eko… Aseko. I’m sure we’ll also meet again. When we do, I hope… we can be friends.”

Aseko nodded and stepped back. “One last thing, Akane. I think you’ll need to know about this. There’ll be a timeline that I get dangerously close to taking over the ‘me’ from that world. His name is Ryusei. If you want to make anything up to me, make sure that he- and anyone else like him- are safe. Ok?”

Akane smiled. “Sure thing. Take care, alright?”

Without another moment’s delay, Akane stepped into the gate Aseko had made… and vanished. Moments later, the gate shut in on itself, disappearing as well.

Aoi sighed and brought his hand to the bracelet on his wrist. “I guess that’s it, then. Nice meeting you, Aseko. I doubt we’ll see each other again. Well, not unless you come seeking me out for some reason. Try to leave me out of it though, got it?”

Asuka nodded, and Aoi smirked. He tapped his bracelet, and the world shifted.

//

_This must be where each protagonist soul starts their journey._

Aseko picked herself up off the ground, rubbing the back of her head. She looked around- she was back in the park. Turning around, she could see the rise of smoke from the ward that had been devastated by the exceptions that were summoned in the original Nonary game.

“So this is just after I first saw them all die, huh?” Aseko said, folding her arms. “And this… this is _our_ timeline. What are we going to do, I wonder?”

_I’ve got a suggestion if you’ll hear it._

“Yeah? Shoot.”

_How about… we act like none of this ever happened. Just in this timeline._

She put her hands on her hips, looking underneath the bench. Ahab’s hat was gone. “A timeline untouched by those tragedies, huh? Sounds nice. We could have a normal life. Heh.”

_What’s so funny?_

She looked up at the starry sky. “It’s just… there was nothing normal about us, to begin with, and now we’re even less so.”

_Hah, you have a point._

Aseko smiled, reaching her left hand up as if to touch the twinkling stars. In this darkness, it wasn’t easy to make out the star on the back of her hand, but she didn’t care. The proof of it alone was enough to make her realize that she wasn’t truly alone.

“You’re right, Eko. Let’s build ourselves a new future. Together… we can find that blue bird."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment, it'd make my day!
> 
> At the time of posting this chapter, I have a fairly short 3-chapter epilogue for some nice closure. I hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> art done by yogurtart.tumblr.com!


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